Reading The Last Olympian With a very differnt twist
by Son of Erebus god of Shadows
Summary: like any other reading the books story but mine has something never done before i am sure of it...hope fully you like it and will help me on my quest to get 200 review we are very close
1. Chapter 1

**A/N. Hey guys it's i am back with the updated Version of chapter one, and a special thanks to my new beta reader  
**

**Mandomness  
**

**Okay, I hope you enjoy.**

**PS: No flipping flamers allowed.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own HoO and Greek Mythology or the Assassin's Creed Series.**

_2001 Winter Solstice: Mount Olympus_

Hestia's P.O.V

As per usual, the Throne Room was a rowdy mess, the room growing louder and louder each passing seconds with arguments. I simply sat near the fire, waiting for my fellow deities to cool off and talk like civilised folk. Zeus was admitting to breaking the oath a second time. You know, just that little oath he and his brothers made about never siring another child ever again, just in case the child would bring about the end of the world.

Yeah. That one.

So I was finally brought back to reality by the expected outburst from his wife and our sister, Hera, the Goddess of Marriage.

"You couldn't keep it in your toga, could you Zeus? You had the _nerve_ to cheat on me with again, and with the same woman no less! Well, at least you're bloody consistent! You're just a man whore like Apollo," Hera said, disgusted.

Apollo made a small squeak in protest before realising that with Hera in that mood, it wasn't a good idea.

Zeus did the smart thing and just nodded silently.

"Moving on," he said, after a moment of utter silence, "we have be-"

He was interrupted by a deafening ticking noise.

_Tick! Tock! Tick! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!_

Then, a giant gold clock appeared in the Throne Room. Everyone instinctively picked up their weapons. Oddly enough a door appeared on the clock, and judging by the voices, there were people behind it.

"Ow Nico, stop stepping on my Hand!" I heard a female voice say.

"Sorry," a male said.

"Let's just get this over with guys," another male said, but this man sounded depressed.

_Click!_

I heard the door open. Five people tumbled out, regaining their balance at the last moment and standing tall before us.

The first I saw was one of the men. He had olive coloured skin, deep brown eyes and black hair. He stood at about 6'2.

The second one I saw was woman with pale skin, piercing lightning blue eyes and blonde hair, standing at around 5'8.

The third was another man, this one with tanned skin, green-blue eyes and black hair. He was slightly taller than the first man, at 6'3.

The fourth was a cyclops. His one eye was the colour of the sea, and he was slightly tanned. He towered over the rest at a height of 8'9.

The last man was wearing a robe, hooded. He seemed bent over with his worries and reminded me of a man I knew from Firenze... Ezio. Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Zeus, being the Pseudo-god of Drama, summoned the Master Bolt with a crash of thunder and aimed it dramatically at our guests. I really should have taught him more about manners.

_"Who are you? How dare you interrupt our meeting?"_ he thundered.

All five of them stepped forwards, and the hooded man uncovered his face. His face was regal, but looked depressed. His eyes were golden... wait, what?

Silence filled the room as the Gods viewed the newcomers.

Zeus broke the silence. "I ask again, who are you?"

The one with golden eyes stepped forwards.

"We are here to read books of your future and my past as a demigod in an attempt to prepare you for the next war."

"Oh, well, I suppose you should introduce yourselves then," Zeus said, his dramatic demeanour falling away as his interest was piqued.

The first man with stepped forwards.

"My name is Nico di Angelo. I am the God of Torture, Loss, Grudges, Ghosts and Death. I am the 16th Olympian, and yes, I said death. Thanatos faded 15 years from now. I took over his realm of Death. I am a son of Hades, but I was born in 1945.

Next the girl stepped forwards.

"My name is Thalia Grace, Goddess of Clouds, Maidens, Hunting, Virginity, and Pride. Yes, my father did break the oath. Oh yeah, and I'm an ex-hunter of Artemis.'' Thalia said Artemis's name like it was bile in her throat.

''My dear huntress why did you leave the hu-" Artemis began.

_"I AM NOT YOUR HUNTRESS, AND YOU ARE NOT GODDESS OF THE HUNT YOU LOST THAT POSEITION WHEN YOU CH-" _

She didn't finish, as the man with golden eyes put a hand over a mouth. He whispered something into her ear, and she nodded, still glaring at Artemis.

The man with green-blue eyes cleared his throat.

"I am Nathan, Son of Triton, God of Beaches and Water Sports."

The Cylcops spoke next.

"I am Tyson, Son of Poseidon and Lord of the Cyclops. I'm a Minor God of Forging."

We all looked at Poseidon in shock. He just smiled at Tyson.

The man with the gold eyes stepped forward.

"My name is Lord Perseus 'Percy' Jackson, Son of Poseidon and God of Time, Space, Gravity, Betrayal and Assassins..."

_I suppose that explains the look,_ I thought.

"Ex-husband to a certain Goddess in this room (here he choked up). Yes, my father did break the oath," he finished. A lone tear trickled down his cheek.

"POSEIDON!" Zeus started, "HOW DARE YOU BREAK OUR SAC-"

"Sacred oath? You broke it fourteen times, Zeus, so shut up," Perseus said quietly.

One thought ran through my mind, over and over again. _Uh oh..._

"YOU DID WHAT?" screeched Hera.

"Queen Hera, you can yell at you unfaithful husband later, but for now we should read these books to make you better rulers of Western Civilisation, if all goes well." Perseus interrupted.

"Okay then, where are these books?" Athena smirked. I hate it when she is a smart ass.

A shadow of a smile flicked across Perseus' face. "Look up," he said.

She did, and we all felt immense satisfaction when the books landed on her face.

"Let's get to reading then," he said.

**So just a little note from me now (the unofficial beta tester). I just want to say that I write 'colour' instead of 'color' or some such thing. It's the English Language, and that's how they do it in England, and in Australia, and in New Zealand, and probably in a few other English-speaking countries I've never heard of. Deal with it.**

**Mandomness**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N. Hey guys it's me I'm writing this story based off a dream I had and I was going to go crazy if I didn't get it out of my head. I will also be taking a small break from my story "The Roman". Hope you enjoy and please leave me reviews. I will be updating every week to three weeks, but no promises.**

**Okay, I hope you enjoy.**

**PS: No flipping flamers allowed.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own HoO and Greek Mythology or the Assassin's Creed Series.**

**Third person's P.O.V**

Athena's face was one of mild annoyance as she moved to pick up the book. She stopped abruptly to glare at Poseidon, who had just stood up.

"I need to speak to my son in private," he said.

Percy nodded. "As you wish. Oh, and Triton might find it interesting to listen to these books."

Poseidon tipped his head in recognition. The two of them looked at each other, then flashed out together.

What the Gods didn't see was Artemis flashing out barely a second later. Only Athena saw, and she came to the conclusion that Artemis was going to see her hunters.

**Somewhere in Borra Borra. Midnight.**

**Percy's P.O.V**

As I glanced at my father, I instinctively knew where he wanted to talk to me, I flashed to Borra Borra. Like a forgotten dream, memories of my honeymoon with _her_ flashed behind my eyes, but they were soon gone again. I had spent the best days of my life here, and then _she_… _she _did what _she _wanted to. It's in the past now - well, future… you know what I mean.

I looked at my father and realised that he had been waiting impatiently for me to stop daydreaming.

"Look Percy… I'm sorry I wasn't around when you were growing up. I know it couldn't have been the best childhood for you, but I am happy that you are my son and I want you to know I am proud of you beyond words. I mean, look at you! You're an Olympian! The God of Time no less. I couldn't be happier for you. Other than Triton, after all, you're my only immortal child," he said to me.

For the first time since _she_ did what she did I smiled. For the first time in eight months, I felt truly happy.

"Thanks Dad," I said, and gave him a hug. It was the first since I became a god.

"Now Percy, who was the Goddess who broke your heart?" my father asked me, his voice growing cold and serious.

I mumbled something under my breath so quietly that I didn't even hear myself say it.

"Speak up, son," Poseidon said.

I took a deep breath, trying to face my past as best I could. "Artemis."

I heard a gasp, and it definitely wasn't my father who did it.

In an instant, I had a throwing knife in my hands, trying to remember where it came from.

"What are you doing?" Poseidon asked.

"We're being watched," I murmured, and then I threw the knife. I heard a small yelp - of surprise or sudden pain, I couldn't tell - and I saw someone flash out. I rushed over to retrieve my knife, and when I got to it, the blade had golden blood on it. I flashed to Olympus to chase the God/Goddess. After all, whoever it was eavesdropped on my dad and me.

Here's the thing about my knives - if they hit someone, they put a tracker on them. I ran through Olympus, following the metaphorical scent, and then I saw my target. A flash of blonde hair. I raced towards the market, trying to gain ground on them. I was close enough to see she was a woman, and a fast, smart one. She ran through the crowded, busy parts of the market, forcing me to leap around vendors, slide under they're stalls and even once or twice I had to jump onto a nearby building (and then straight off again) to keep up.

Partway through once such jump, the eavesdropper grabbed a golden tray and threw it at me. For the first time since coming to this year, I extended my hidden blades from my wrist. The tray impaled itself on them, and I pushed it off just before I hit the ground, rolling to continue the chase.

The Goddess I was chasing sprinted into the Throne Room, and just as I ran through the doors she flung herself off Olympus. Yeah, I didn't know there was a hole in the floor there either, but somehow, there was.

I leapt right off after her.

I faintly heard an eagle's cry as I fell. Air rushed whistled past my ears as I swan dived, trying to fall faster and faster. When I was around three feet away from my target, I extended my hidden blades, ready pierce the back of their neck.

And then they flashed away.

The ground was twenty feet away from me. _I really didn't think this through, _I thought.

**thats is for this chapter hope you liked it**

**please review**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N. Hey guys it's me I'm writing this story based off a dream I had and I was going to go crazy if I didn't get it out of my head. I will also be taking a small break from my story "The Roman". Hope you enjoy and please leave me reviews. I will be updating every week to three weeks, but no promises.**

**Okay, I hope you enjoy.**

**PS: No flipping flamers allowed.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own HoO and Greek Mythology or the Assassin's Creed Series.**

**Poseidon's POV**

When I flashed to the throne room, I saw everyone staring down onto Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Look, for your self, brother!" said Zeus.

I peered cautiously over the edge, careful not to fall. I saw a huge crater, almost like an asteroid.

"Did an asteroid hit the earth?" I joked, although my heart really wasn't in it.

"Look in the crater," said _Artemis._

I narrowed my eyes. Even for a god, it's hard to see that far from up here. As I recognised something lying in the crater, I started to feel sick (and we Gods don't get sick). It was Percy.

"What happened?" I asked again, through clenched teeth.

"Well, um… he came running in, following a blonde girl with a cur on her arm. She jumped off Olympus to get away - a silly thing to do, I must say, even if she was a Goddess, but anyway, your son jumped off after her. I don't know when, but at some point she must have flashed away, and Percy didn't."

"Where are the others from his time?" I asked.

"Down there with him," Zeus said.

I gritted my teeth for a moment. "Let's go," I muttered.

**Third Person P.O.V**

As all the other Olympians teleported down to the crater, Artemis breathed a sigh of relief. She took her moment alone to cover the cut on her arm with her sleeve, then she flashed down after them.

**Fifth Avenue**

"ARRRRRRRRRRGH!" Percy screamed out, as Apollo tried to move him on to a stretcher.

"It's no good guys, he broke a grand total of One-Hundred And Twenty Eight bones. Well, he's an achiever at least," Apollo said, almost impressed. "Zeus, Thalia, if you don't mind, use some wind to get him up onto the stretcher."

*****Fairly Graphic content in next scene. Viewer discretion is advised. I do not recommend reading this section unless you are over the age of 12. More of '*' will appear at end of scene.*****

Thalia and Zeus started channeling their powers. The other Olympians watched, standing a fair way back, completely silent.

"ARRRRGH," Percy yelled. As he started to lift into the air, a sick crunching sound could be heard. Sweat started rolling off his forehead as he tried to block the pain. When he was fully out of the crater, the Gods saw a large pool of Ichor at the bottom. Small shards of bone floated in it, bobbing as the wind blew around Percy's body. Still more bones stuck through the skin of his back.

"It's not safe to put him on the stretcher yet," Apollo said. "Yo Uncle P! Can you try making a makeshift stretcher out of water?" he asked.

"No," Percy croaked. He reached into his belt pouch slowly, his teeth gritted against the pain. His hand grasped an object, and he quickly moved his arm back to it's natural position, breathing a small sigh of relief. Thalia realised that it was a vial and helped him get the lid off, and he drank it in a single gulp.

"That," he muttered, "is the best painkiller I've ever tried. Can you turn me on my hands and knees?" he asked.

Thalia and Zeus obliged. When he was in the requested position, he started throwing up violently. His arms bent in strange positions, as the bones couldn't hold them in place as they should, but with a little help from Apollo, he kept himself steady until he was done.

"Dad," Percy said, "can you please put a big glob of salt water on my back?" Poseidon did it with out any hesitation. "Apollo, channel your healing powers into the glob of water."

Soon the water was glowing a goldish, blueish whitish colour.

"Much better," Percy said. Bones began moving back to their proper places and his skin closed up until he looked just the same as he had before he'd jumped off Olympus. He stood up again, stretching a limb.

"Mind if I have some nectar?" he asked.

Apollo passed a flask of nectar to him and Percy reached to take it with his left hand. A few of the more observing Olympians gasped, looking at his hand. "Your finger!" Apollo exclaimed, moving closer to examine the stub where Percy's ring finger used to be.

"Oh, that. Well, when I first became a God, the title of Assassins was only given to me a year after I became a God. I time travelled back to 1123 out of sheer boredom. I went to Masyaf and met a man named Altaïr Ibn La'Ahad. He was an Assassin of the time. When I joined the Brotherhood of Assassins, he told me it would take sacrifice, courage, bravery, ambition and focus to succeed. The weapon of an Assassin was a hidden blade. I joined the Brotherhood in the years before… well, before it was modified, and in order to use the hidden blade effectively I had to amputate my ring finger. His life is a long story, but suffice to say that it had an end and I returned to my own time. In 2014, the Fates granted me the new title of "God of Assassins". There is a room in my palace dedicated to the Mentors of the Brotherhood throughout the centuries - Assassin's like Altaïr and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, from the Renaissance," Percy explained.

Everyone stared at him like he was from Chaos' Court.

"So," he said, "let's get back up to Olympus before the mortals come." He flipped his hood over his face, just because he felt like it.

Soon enough, the streets were empty once again.

**next chapter they are gonna start read the book**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N. Hey guys it's me I'm writing this story based off a dream I had and I was going to go crazy if I didn't get it out of my head. I will also be taking a small break from my story "The Roman". Hope you enjoy and please leave me reviews. I will be updating every week to three weeks, but no promises.**

**Okay, I hope you enjoy.**

**PS: No flipping flamers allowed.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own HoO and Greek Mythology or the Assassin's Creed Series.**

**it will help if you listen to the song best in my by, sent by ravens, then you can know how percy fells because the song matches his felling's**

**Percy's P.O.V**

Athena picked up the book. "Who wants to read first?" she asked.

"I will," I said. Hey, I might as well, I know more about these events than everyone else here...

I picked up the book.

"It's called _The Lightn-"_

A white glow hit the book and it was re-placed with a note.

_Dear Gods/Goddesses of the future and the past,_

_We made a mistake. Sorry about that, wrong book. The proper one should turn up soon enough._

_The Fates._

"Ok," said Apollo, "cause I'm sure the Fates make mistakes regularly..."

"Idiot," muttered Artemis. In reply, the new book was dropped on her head.

"Ow."

Everyone else hid their smiles. I held a hand out and she threw the book to me, causing a squeal of annoyance from Athena. "Don't throw books!" she said.

Her protests were drowned out by utter silence as the Olympians waited for me to begin.

"The Last Olympian," I said, "Chapter 1..."

**I GO CRUISING WITH EXPLOSIVES**

Poseidon paled.

**The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.**

"I remember there was this one time I was flying my chariot over Camp Half-blood and I nearly knocked a kid off his Pegasus," Apollo said.

"Was the Pegasus okay?" Dad and I asked.

**Up until then, I was having a great afternoon.**

**Technically I wasn't supposed to be driving be driving because I wouldn't turn sixteen for another week, but my mom and my stepdad, Paul, took my friend Rachel and me this private stretch of beach on the South Shore, and Paul let us borrow his Prius for a short spin.**

"How irresponsible of him. He should be better role model." Guess who said that! If you thought Athena, you were wrong.

It was Aphrodite.

We all stared at her in mild shock.

"What?" she asked. "Do you really wanna see his pretty face damaged?"

A few of the more dignified deities sighed in frustration.

**Now, I know you're thinking, **_**wow, **_**that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah,**

We started laughing at the deja vu. A few of us cracked small smiles.

**but Paul know's me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings,**

"Son," Poseidon said, "how many schools have you been to in your time as a demigod?"

I sat there for a moment, thinking. "About fifteen schools in thirteen years," I said.

"A moment of silence for the death of education," Athena said.

That peaceful silence was interrupted by Apollo. "Who are you kidding? Good on ya, Percy!" Apollo yelled.

**so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing I'd ever done.**

**Anyway, Rachel and I were driving along. It was a hot August day. Rachel's red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a white blouse over her swimsuit. I'd never seen her wear any thing but ratty T-shirts and paint-splattered jeans before, and she looked like a million drachmas.**

**"Oh, pull up right there!" she told me. We parked on a ridge over looking the Atlantic. The sea is always one of my favorite places, but today it was especially nice glittery green and smooth as glass, as though my dad was keeping it calm just for us.**

**My dad by the way, is Poseidon. He can do stuff like that.**

"Damn straight I can."

"Dad, where is Triton?" I asked.

"With his girlfriend, apparently he got a mortal pregnant."

"Ah," I said.

**''So''. Rachel smiled at me '' about that invitation."**

**"Oh . . . right." I tried to sound excited. I mean, she'd asked me to her family's vacation house on St. Thomas for three days.**

"Dude, why didn't you go? You could have gotten luck-" Apollo started, but never finished his sentence.

I leapt off the couch, holding my hidden blade at his throat. "Don't you dare finish saying that..." I said, leaving the threat hanging.

He did the smart thing and gulped, nodding slowly.

**I didn't get a lot of offers like that. My family's idea of a fancy vacation was a weekend in a rundown cabin on Long Island with some movie rentals and a couple of frozen pizzas, and here Rachel's folks were willing to let me tag along to the Caribbean.**

"Hey, I never worked out why you didn't go," Nico said curiously.

"I was on call. Some serious shit was about to go down," I said. Pardon my language, but that's really the only way to describe it.

**Even worse, next week was my birthday. There was this prophecy that said when I turned sixteen, bad things would happen.**

"Why on Earth did I let you live that long?" Zeus asked.

"Because you know Dad would wage war on you for killing me, and you'd lose. Not to mention the fact that you still would have lost the - wait, no, never mind. You'll probably find out later," I said.

"I'm not afraid of anyone! I am Zeus, King of the Gods!" he said, his role as pseudo-god of drama shining through.

"You also scream like a girl," I said, throwing a splash of water at him.

He screamed like a girl.

Immediately the occupants of the throne room started laughing, then there was a sharp, ringing sound, like a bullet hitting titanium. One of my time machines appeared in the room.

"Oh Hades no," I said.

"Now young man, you shouldn't go around throwing my name like it's a football you know-" Hades started.

"Be quiet," Zeus said. "Who did what?"

"My ex-wife stole one of my time machines," I said bitterly. The word 'wife' felt like poison in my mouth.

She stepped out of the time machine. Artemis.

She walked up to me and handed me a note, then went to sit on the couch. Everyone there got up and summoned various office chairs, stools and even a Batmobile to sit on.

"Hey," Apollo said, "it looks cool."

I tore open the letter and read it out loud.

_Dear Gods and Goddesses who are currently in this time,_

_We have sent this Goddess, the ex-wife of Perseus back in time to read the book with you lot. Sorry._

_The Fates._

My ex-wife was quite the sight. She was wearing a disguise because, well, she knew that the Artemis from the past wouldn't be happy if she found out. She was wearing a pink wig, a blue tank top and green contact lenses.

"Percy,"started Luna. That was her nickname from the good old days.

"Don't even start, Luna."

She just sighed.

"Back to the story," said Nico. I tossed him the book, no longer in the mood to read it myself.

**"Percy," she said, "I know the timing is bad. But it's always bad for you, right?"**

"That's a good point, Percy,"

"Just keep reading," I snapped. "And no more interruptions until the end of the chapter. I want to get this over with."

**She had a point.**

**"I really want to go," I promised. "It's just-"**

**"The war."**

**I nodded. I didn't like talking about it, but Rachel knew. Unlike most mortals, she could see through the Mist-the magic veil that distorts human vision. She'd seen monsters. She'd met some of the other demigods who were fighting the Titans and their allies.**

**She'd even been there last summer when the chopped-up Lord Kronos rose out of his coffin in a terrible new form,**

Gasps of surprise came from various Olympians in the room.

**and she'd earned my permanent respect by nailing him in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.**

**She put her hand on my arm. "Just think about it, okay? We don't leave for a couple of days. My dad. .." Her voice faltered.**

**"Is he giving you a hard time?" I asked.**

**Rachel shook her head in disgust. "He's trying to be nice to me, which is almost worse. He wants me to go to Clarion Ladies Academy m the fall."**

**"The school where your mom went?"**

**"It's a stupid finishing school for society girls, all the way in New Hampshire. Can you see me in finishing school?"**

"No!" everybody from the future said. I really couldn't be bothered following through on my 'no interruptions threat, so I let them be.

**I admitted the idea sounded pretty dumb. Rachel was into urban art projects and feeding the homeless and going to protest rallies to "Save the Endangered Yellow-bellied Sapsucker"**

"I brought flyers for it," I said. Artemis came around and took a few, then Demeter stood up.

"Don't waste the paper. It kills the trees," she said.

"But it's for a good cause!" I said.

Hermes took the rest. "Pan would want me to hand some of these out," he said.

**and stuff like that. I'd never even seen her wear a dress. It was hard to imagine her learning to be a socialite.**

**She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in."**

**"Which is why he agreed to let me come with you guys on vacation?"**

**"Yes . . . but Percy, you'd be doing me a huge favor. It would be so much better if you were with us.**

**Besides, there's something I want to talk-" She stopped abruptly.**

**"Something you want to talk about?" I asked. "You mean . . . so serious we'd have to go to St. Thomas to talk about it?"**

**"**Oh , someone has a cruuuuuuusssssssssssh" said Aphrodite, in a sing song voice.

**She pursed her lips. "Look, just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple of normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."**

**I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire.**

**We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bag.**

Ares laughed, but shut up with a glare from Poseidon.

**"Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal**

**people."**

**She nodded. "And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"**

**"**Eeeeeeeek," said Aphrodite "How was it?"

"Second best kiss I've ever had," I said, just to annoy Luna.

She looked at the ground. I thought I saw tears welling in her eyes, and for a moment I felt really bad about it, but I know it hurt more when I found out about what she was doing.

**"Oh . . ." I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows - slow, dumb, and bright red.**

"Hey!" Apollo said.

"At least I didn't say I felt like Apollo: slow, dumb and a man whore," I said.

"Yo Apollo, think there's enough ice in Canada for that burn?" Hermes said.

**I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than . . . well, than some other girls I knew.**

Those of us from my time looked down in silence. Annabeth died on Olympus during the Second Giant War. She sacrificed herself and Bessie to save Olympus. At the time I hated her for killing an innocent sea creature - and leaving me alone, but we found the reformed Ophiotaurus eventually.

**I'm not sure what I would have done next-but I was so distracted, I didn't notice the huge black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a**

**WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!**

_**Hey, boss,**_** a voice said in my head. **_**Nice car!**_

**Blackjack the pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put in the hood; but I didn't think my stepdad would be real stoked.**

"Now he's my immortal steedasus," I said.

"What?" Athena said, totally confused.

"He's my immortal steed, but he's a pegasus, so I used a combination of 'steed' and 'pegasus'," I explained.

Athena didn't really know how to deal with my strange logic (or that thereof) and gave up.

**Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get a lot more complicated.**

**"'Sup, Percy."**

**Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin,**

Hephaestus raised his head, recognising his son's name.

Those of us who knew what happened lowered our heads again in silence.

**would make most monsters cry for their mommies.**

"I would love to see that!" Apollo, Ares, and Hermes yelled.

**He was huge, with ripped muscles from working on the forges every summer, two years older than me, and one of the camp's best armorsmiths. He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.**

Again the room burst into laughter. "I'm gonna say this one more time. No more interruptions," I said.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it pu-" Ares started, but he never finished. I sucker-punched him in the face, then I released my hidden blade and slashed it across his neck. Ichor poured down his throat, and a little bit trickled out of his nose.

"Just throw him a little ambrosia, if you will Apollo," I said.

**Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder.**

**"Time?" I asked.**

**He nodded grimly.**

**A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning for it for weeks, but I'd half hoped it would never happen.**

**Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."**

**"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned you."**

**Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."**

**"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.**

**I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom-"**

**"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it.**

**And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."**

**I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car.**

**"Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react.**

**"Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."**

**My last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Beckendorf and me into the sky. I wondered what Rachel wanted to talk to me about, and whether I'd live long enough to find out.**

**"So," Beckendorf said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."**

Athen wanted to say something but thought better of it when she saw Ares sobbing in pain.

**"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."**

**Beckendorf chuckled, and together we soared out over the Atlantic.**

**It was almost dark by the time we spotted our target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon-a huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead-a dark-haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped m chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.**

**Seeing the ship again twisted my gut into knots. I'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda. Now it was heading straight for New York.**

**"You know what to do?" Beckendorf yelled over the wind.**

**I nodded. We'd done dry runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as our targets. I knew how little time we would have. But I also knew this was our best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.**

**"Blackjack," I said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck."**

_**Gotcha, boss**_**, he said. **_**Man, I hate seeing that boat.**_

**Three years ago, Blackjack had been enslaved on the Princess Andromeda until he'd escaped with a little help from my friends and me. I figured he'd rather have his mane braided like My Little Pony than be back here again.**

At that Aphrodite raised her hand, "Yes you may, after the book is finished," I said to her. She clapped and squealed as quietly as she could.

**"Don't wait for us," I told him.**

**But, boss-**

**"Trust me," I said. "We'll get out by ourselves."**

**Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in my ears. I saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship-dracaenae, snake-women, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines-but we zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm. We shot down the stern of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck. I climbed off, feeling queasy.**

_**Good luck, boss,**_** Blackjack said. **_**Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!**_

**With that, my old friend flew off into the night. I took my pen out of my pocket and uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size-three feet of deadly Celestial bronze glowing in the dusk.**

**Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. I thought it was a map or something. Then I realized it was a photograph. He stared at it in the dim light-the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite.**

We were still for a moment, then Nico read on.

**They'd started going out last summer, after years of the rest of us saying, "Duh, you guys like each other!" Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than I'd ever seen him. "We'll make it back to camp," I promised.**

**For a second I saw worry in his eyes. Then he put on his old confident smile.**

**"You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kronos back into a million pieces."**

**Beckendorf led the way. We followed a narrow corridor to the service stairwell, just like we'd practiced, but we froze when we heard noises above us.**

**"I don't care what your nose says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice-a telkhine.**

**"The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meat loaf sandwich!"**

**"Meat loaf sandwiches are good!"**

**a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!"**

**"Bah, your brain isn't on board!"**

**They continued to argue, and Beckendorf pointed downstairs. We descended as quietly as we could. Two floors down, the voices of the telkhines started to fade.**

**Finally we came to a metal hatch. Beckendorf mouthed the words "engine room."**

**It was locked, but Beckendorf pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bolt like it was made of butter.**

**Inside, a row of yellow turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. Pressure gauges and computer terminals lined the opposite wall. A telkhine was hunched over a console, but he was so involved with his work, he didn't notice us. He was about five feet tall, with slick black seal fur and stubby little feet. He had the head of a Doberman, but his clawed hands were almost human. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard. Maybe he was messaging his friends on **

We chuckled quietly.

**I stepped forward, and he tensed, probably smelling something was wrong. He leaped sideways toward a big red alarm button, but I blocked his path. He hissed and lunged at me, but one slice of Riptide, and he exploded into dust.**

**"One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go."**

**He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid-Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes-**

Hermes raised his hand. "Over 20,000 additional uses," I said. He grinned and gave me a thumbs up.

**duct tape.**

**"Slap that one on the console," he said. "I'll get the turbines."**

**We went to work. The room was hot and humid, and in no time we were drenched in sweat.**

**The boat kept chugging along. Being the son of Poseidon and all, I have perfect bearings at sea. Don't ask me how, but I could tell we were at 40.19° North, 71.90° West, making eighteen knots,**

Poseidon and Athena frowned. "Which means the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn," they muttered in unison.

**Which meant the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn.**

Poseidon smiled, and Athena scowled.

**This would be our only chance to stop it.**

**I had just attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels when I heard the pounding of feet on metal steps-so many creatures coming down the stairwell I could hear them over the engines. Not a good sign.**

**I locked eyes with Beckendorf. "How much longer?"**

Hephaestus muttered. "Too long."

**"Too long."**

Hephaestus grimaced, already realising that someone was going to get trapped.

**He tapped his watch, which was our remote control detonator. "I still have to wire the receiver and prime the charges. Ten more minutes at least."**

**Judging from the sound of the footsteps, we had about ten seconds.**

**"I'll distract them," I said. "Meet you at the rendezvous point."**

**"Percy-"**

**"Wish me luck."**

**He looked like he wanted to argue. The whole idea had been to get in and out without being spotted. But we were going to have to improvise.**

**"Good luck," he said.**

**I charged out the door.**

"Very noble," Hestia said from the hearth. I didn't respond - images of the mission flashed across my brain.

**A half dozen telkhines were tromping down the stairs. I cut through them with Riptide faster than they could yelp. I kept climbing-past another telkhine, who was so startled he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive-partly because his lunch box was cool, partly so he could raise the alarm and hopefully get his friends to follow me rather than head toward the engine room.**

**I burst through a door onto deck six and kept running. I'm sure the carpeted hall had once been very plush, but over the last three years of monster occupation the wallpaper, carpet, and stateroom doors had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat (and yes, unfortunately, I speak from experience).**

Poseidon groaned.

**Back on my first visit to the Princess Andromeda, my old enemy Luke**

Hermes' eyes widened in shock. "What's he doing there?"

Those of us from the future were silent. Nico stopped reading, and Hestia took the book.

**had kept some dazed tourists on board for show, shrouded in Mist so they didn't realize they were on a monster-infested ship. Now I didn't see any sign of tourists. I hated to think what had happened to them, but I kind of doubted they'd been allowed to go home with their bingo winnings.**

"Poor mortals," Hestia murmured.

**I reached the promenade, a big shopping mall that took up the whole middle of the ship, and I stopped cold. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain. And in the fountain squatted a giant crab.**

"That should be no problem b_oy_ you are a Son of Poseidon! you can control it. How much more stupid could you get?" asked Artemis.

I'll admit I flinched slightly.

Luna flinched too, for some reason.

**I'm not talking "giant" like $7.99 all-you-can-eat Alaskan king crab. I'm talking giant like bigger than the fountain. The monster rose ten feet out of the water. Its shell was mottled blue and green, its pincers longer than my body.**

Artemis looked at the ground awkwardly.

**If you've ever seen a crab's mouth, all foamy and gross with whiskers and snapping bits, you can imagine this one didn't look any better blown up to billboard size. Its beady black eyes glared at me, and I could see intelligence in them-and hate. The fact that I was the son of the sea god was not going to win me any points with Mr. Crabby.**

**"FFFFffffff,"it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like a garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week.**

Everyone wrinkled their noses.

**Alarms blared. Soon I was going to have lots of company**

**and I had to keep moving.**

**"Hey, crabby." I inched around the edge of the courtyard."I'm just gonna scoot around you so-"**

**The crab moved with amazing speed. It scuttled out of the fountain and came straight at me, pincers snapping. 1 dove into a gift shop, plowing through a rack of T-shirts. A crab pincer smashed the glass walls to pieces and raked across the room. I dashed back outside, breathing heavily, but Mr. Crabby turned and followed.**

**"There!" a voice said from a balcony above me. "Intruder!" If I'd wanted to create a distraction, I'd succeeded, but this was not where I wanted to fight. If I got pinned down in the center of the ship, I was crab chow.**

**The demonic crustacean lunged at me. I sliced with Riptide, taking off the tip of its claw. It hissed and foamed, but didn't seem very hurt.**

**I tried to remember anything from the old stories that might help with this thing. Annabeth had told me about a monster crab-something about Hercules crushing it under his foot? That wasn't going to work here. This crab was slightly bigger than my Reeboks.**

"Yes, only slightly bigger," said Nico

"Thanks, Captain Obvious!" Apollo said.

**Then a weird thought occurred to me. Last Christmas, my mom and I had brought Paul Blofis to our old cabin at Montauk, where we'd been going forever. Paul had taken me crabbing, and when he'd brought up a net full of the things, he'd shown me how crabs have a chink in their armor, right in the middle of their ugly bellies.**

**The only problem was getting to the ugly belly.**

**I glanced at the fountain, then at the marble floor, already slick from scuttling crab tracks. I held out my hand, concentrating on the water, and the fountain exploded. Water sprayed everywhere, three stories high, dousing the balconies and the elevators and the windows of the shops. The crab didn't care. It loved water. It came at me sideways, snapping and hissing, and I ran straight at it, screaming, "AHHHHHHH!"**

**Just before we collided, I hit the ground baseball-style and slid on the wet marble floor straight under the creature. It was like sliding under a seven-ton armored vehicle. All the crab had to do was sit and squash me, but before it realized what was going on, I jabbed Riptide into the chink in its armor, let go of the hilt, and pushed myself out the backside. The monster shuddered and hissed. Its eyes dissolved. Its shell turned bright red as its insides evaporated. The empty shell clattered to the floor in a massive heap.**

I could almost hear the clapping and cheering.

**I didn't have time to admire my handiwork. I ran for the nearest stairs while all around me monsters and demigods shouted orders and strapped on their weapons. I was empty-handed. Riptide, being magic, would appear in my pocket sooner or later, but for now it was stuck somewhere under the wreckage of the crab, and I had no time to retrieve it.**

**In the elevator foyer on deck eight, a couple of dracaenae slithered across my path. From the waist up, they were women with green scaly skin, yellow eyes, and forked tongues. From the waist down, they had double snake trunks instead of legs. They held spears and weighted nets, and I knew from experience they could use them.**

**"What isss thisss?" one said. "A prize for Kronosss!"**

**I wasn't in the mood to play break-the-snake,**

"Nooooo," two voices hissed, "don't break usssss,"

"I thought I put you two on mute!"

"Sssssorry Lord Hermessssss," the snakes hissed.

"Hey Hermes, give these to them," I said, tossing him a bag of dead rats.

"Thanksssssss Lord Perssssseusssssss," they said.

"No problem."

**but in front of me was a stand with a model of the ship, like a YOU ARE HERE display. I ripped the model off the pedestal and hurled it at the first boat smacked her in the face and she went down with the ship. I jumped over her, grabbed her friend's spear, and swung her around. She slammed into the elevator, and I kept running toward the front of the ship.**

**"Get him!" she screamed.**

**Hellhounds bayed. An arrow from somewhere whizzed past my face and impaled itself in the mahogany-paneled wall of the stairwell. I didn't care-as long as I got the monsters away from the engine room and gave Beckendorf more time.**

**As I was running up the stairwell, a kid charged down. He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap. His armor was half on. He drew his sword and yelled, "Kronos!" but he sounded more scared than angry. He couldn't have been more than twelve-about the same age I was when I'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood.**

**That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brainwashed-trained to hate the gods and lash out because he'd been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy.**

**No way was I going to hurt him. I didn't need a weapon for this. I stepped inside his strike and grabbed his wrist, slamming it against the wall. His sword clattered out of his hand.**

**Then I did something I hadn't planned on. It was probably stupid.**

**It definitely jeopardized our mission, but I couldn't help it.**

**"If you want to live," I told him, "get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods."**

**Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next floor.**

**I kept climbing.**

**Bad memories: a hallway ran past the cafeteria. Annabeth, my half brother Tyson,**

**and I had sneaked through here three years ago on my first visit.**

**I burst outside onto the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black. A swimming pool glowed between two glass towers with more balconies and restaurant decks. The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted.**

"Too quiet," Athena muttered.

**All I had to do was cross to the other side. Then I could take the staircase down to the helipad-our emergency rendezvous point. With any luck, Beckendorf would meet me there. We'd jump into the sea. My water powers would protect us both, and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter mile away.**

**I was halfway across the deck when the sound of a voice made me freeze. "You're late, Percy."**

**Luke stood on the balcony above me, a smile on his scarred face. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops, like he was just a normal college-age guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.**

Everyone fell quiet and looked at me, waiting for an explanation.

I was silent.

**"We've been expecting you for days." At first he sounded normal, like Luke. But then his face twitched. A shudder passed through his body as though he'd just drunk something really nasty. His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful-the voice of the Titan lord Kronos. The words scraped down my spine like a knife blade. "Come, bow before me."**

"As if that'll happen," both Artemis's said.

**"Yeah, that'll happen," I muttered.**

**Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Luke. Two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at me. Within seconds I was surrounded. A trap: there's no way they could've gotten into position so fast unless they'd known I was coming.**

"It's a trap," said Athena

"No? I thought it was a surprise birthday party," I said.

**I looked up at Luke, and anger boiled inside me. I didn't know if Luke's consciousness was even still alive inside that body.**

**Maybe, the way his voice had changed . . . or maybe it was just Kronos adapting to his new form. I told myself it didn't matter. Luke had been twisted and evil long before Kronos possessed him.**

**A voice in my head said: I have to fight him eventually. Why not now?**

**According to that big prophecy, I was supposed to make a choice that saved or destroyed the world when I was sixteen. That was only seven days away. Why not now? If I really had the power, what difference would a week make? I could end this threat right here by taking down Kronos. Hey, I'd fought monsters and gods before.**

**As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos.**

"IS IT LUKE OR KRONOS! PICK ONE!" Hermes yelled in anguish.

We were silent.

**I had to remember that.**

**"Come forward," he said. "If you dare."**

Nico smiled. "Oh he dared alright, He really did."

**The crowd of monsters parted. I moved up the stairs, my heart pounding. I was sure somebody would stab me in the back, but they let me pass. I felt my pocket and found my pen waiting. I uncapped it, and Riptide grew into a sword. Kronos's weapon appeared in his hands-a six-foot-long scythe, half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel. Just looking at the thing made my knees turn to Jell-O. But before I could change my mind, I charged.**

Poseidon was swaying slightly in his seat.

**Time slowed down. I mean literally slowed down, because Kronos had that power. I felt like I was moving through syrup. My arms were so heavy, I could barely raise my sword. Kronos smiled, swirling his scythe at normal speed and waiting for me to creep toward my death.**

Ares pursed her lips. "He's dead."

**I tried to fight his magic.**

Zeus frowned, this kid wasn't going to succeed. "A god can barely fight it, what chances does a demigod have?"

I just smirked.

**I concentrated on the sea around me-the source of my power. I'd gotten better at channeling it over the years, but now nothing seemed to happen. I took another slow step forward. Giants jeered. Dracaenae hissed with laughter.**

**Hey, ocean, I pleaded. Any day now would be good.**

"Not gonna work," smirked Zeus.

"How much you wanna bet?" I asked.

200,000,000,000 drachmas and being king of the gods.

"I swear it on the Styx," I said.

"I, Zeus King of the Gods, swear on the river Styx to pay and give up my title as King of the Gods if Percy can break Kronos's time spell."

Thunder rumbled.

"Now you do the same," said Zeus.

"I, Perseus, God of Time and blah blah blah, swear on the Styx to pay Zeus the agreed amount if I can't break Kronos's time spell."

**Suddenly there was a wrenching pain in my gut. The entire boat lurched sideways, throwing monsters off their feet. Four thousand gallons of salt water surged out of the swimming pool, dousing me and Kronos and everyone on the deck. The water revitalized me, breaking the time spell,**

"I… I was wrong," Zeus mumbled.

"I believe we had a deal, Zeus," I said. He flicked his hand and the money appeared. "And the other thing?" I said.

"I Zeus, God of the Sky, renounce my title as King of the Gods and pass rule down to Perseus, God of Time." A golden glow hit Zeus, then Percy, and their thrones switched places.

"I feel weird, stated Zeus. A foul smell hit the room. "Zeus," said Apollo, "You farted."

We laughed uncontrollably for a while, unable to die from lack of oxygen. Hey, we're immortal.

**I struck at Kronos, but I was still too slow. I made the mistake of looking at his face-Luke's face-a guy who was once my friend. As much as I hated him, it was hard to kill him.**

**Kronos had no such hesitation. He sliced downward with his scythe. I leaped back, and the evil blade missed by an inch, cutting a gash in the deck right between my feet.**

**I kicked Kronos in the chest. He stumbled backward, but he was heavier than Luke should've been. It was like kicking a refrigerator.**

**Kronos swung his scythe again. I intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, my blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off my shirtsleeve and grazed my arm. It shouldn't have been a serious cut, but the entire side of my body exploded with pain. I remembered what a sea demon had once said about Kronos's scythe: Careful, fool. One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body. Now I understood what he meant. I wasn't just losing blood. I could feel my strength, my will, my identity draining away.**

**I stumbled backward, switched my sword to my left hand, and lunged desperately. My blade should've run him through, but it deflected off his stomach like I was hitting solid marble. There was no way he should've survived that.**

"How did he?" Hermes asked.

"Later," I murmured.

**Kronos laughed. "A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay.**

Nico shook his head. "That's not true!"

**My vision started to blur. I knew I didn't have much time. "Luke had a big head," I said. "But at least it was his head."**

**"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plan unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus.**

**"You'll never get this boat to Manhattan." My arm was throbbing. Black spots danced in my vision.**

**"And why would that be?" Kronos's golden eyes glittered. His face-Luke's face-seemed like a mask, unnatural and lit from behind by some evil power. "Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?"**

Hephaestus gulped. "No!"

**He looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!"**

**A teenage guy in full Greek armor pushed through the crowd. His left eye was covered with a black patch. I knew him, of course: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. I'd saved his life in the Labyrinth**

**Last summer, and in return, the little punk had helped Kronos come back to life.**

**"Success, my lord," Ethan called. "We found him just as we were told."**

**He clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered forward, dragging Charles Beckendorf between them. My heart almost stopped. Beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. His armor was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.**

"NO!" shouted Hephaestus.

**"No!" I yelled.**

**Beckendorf met my eyes. He glanced at his hand like he was trying to tell me something. His watch. They hadn't taken it yet, and that was the detonator. Was it possible the explosives**

**were armed? Surely the monsters would've dismantled them right away.**

**"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"**

**"Soon." Kronos scowled at Ethan. "Are you sure he didn't set the explosives?"**

**"He was going toward the engine room, my lord."**

**"How do you know that?"**

**"Er . . ." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full**

**of explosives."**

**Slowly, I began to understand.**

"About time!" said Athena.

**Beckendorf had fooled them. When he'd realized he was going to be captured, he turned to make it look like he was going the other way. He'd convinced them he hadn't**

**made it to the engine room yet. The Greek fire might still be primed! But that didn't do us any good unless we could get off the ship and detonate it.**

**Kronos hesitated.**

**Buy the story, I prayed. The pain in my arm was so bad now I could barely stand.**

**"Open his bag," Kronos ordered.**

**One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Beckendorf's shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backward. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.**

**I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger.**

"That's where our anger issues come from," Thalia and I said. We were both thinking of the incident during a certain Capture the Flag match...

**"Did you, perhaps," he said, "capture this demigod near the galley?"**

**Ethan turned pale. "Um-"**

**"And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?"**

**Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran.**

**I cursed silently. Now we had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. I caught Beckendorf's eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: How long?**

**He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero. There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.**

**Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn't matter. We have you now. We've known you were coming for weeks."**

**He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm-the Titan lord's symbol.**

"A spy," Athena muttered. "A spy at camp…"

**The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, "Communication device . . . spy at camp."**

**Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way.**

**Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."**

**I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck. I was in no shape to rescue him,**

**and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would.**

**Beckendorf mouthed one word: Go.**

**I shook my head. I couldn't just leave him.**

**The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free. He raised it slowly-toward the watch on his right wrist.**

**I wanted to scream, NO!**

**Then down by the swimming pool, one of the dracaenae hissed, "What isss he doing? What isss that on hisss wrissst?"**

**Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.**

"No," Hephaestus moaned. "No."

We were silent. A single tear trickled down my cheek. "It was my fault..." I thought.

**I had no choice. I threw my sword like a javelin at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it did startle him. I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship-toward the water a hundred feet below.**

**I heard rumbling deep in the ship. Monsters yelled at me from above. A spear sailed past my ear. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain. I plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take me far, far away-a hundred yards, two hundred yards.**

**Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.**

_**Beckendorf,**_** I thought.**

**Then I blacked out and sank like an anchor toward the bottom of the sea.**

The gods had been silent the whole time.

As the chapter ended, I teleported out of the throne room the most peaceful place I could think of, and I cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I let out all the pain I had ever felt, the pain of betrayal, failure... everything.

**A/N hoped you guys liked the chapter, my beta reader Mandomness, is getting to much school work and can't beta for me for a while so if anyone wants to be my temporary beta reader leave me a review or pm me**

**Please review**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N. Hey guys it's me I'm writing this story based off a dream I had and I was going to go crazy if I didn't get it out of my head. I will also be taking a small break from my story "The Roman". Hope you enjoy and please leave me reviews. I will be updating every week to three weeks, but no promises.**

**Okay, I hope you enjoy.**

**PS: No flipping flamers allowed.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own HoO and Greek Mythology or the Assassin's Creed Series.**

**(Percy's P.O.V)**

I flashed back to the throne room, from the beach at camp half-blood, and took my place back on my throne, "Sorry about that everyone, I needed to go somewhere peaceful" I said.

They just nodded and Hades picked up the book.

"CHAPTER **TWO. I MEET SOME FISHY RELATIVES."**Hades began.

One thought was running through Poseidon's head as he heard what Hades said, _'please don't fight, please don't fight, oh gods please'_

**Demigod dreams suck**. **The thing is; they're never just**_**dreams.**_**They've got to be visions, omens, and all that other mystical stuff,**

"That makes your brain hurt" said Nico

"I'm so glad I'm not a demigod anymore." I said.

"You had bad dreams?" my dad asked.

"Like out of a horror movie" I replied without hesitation.

He just paled.

**That makes my brain hurt.**

"No, no, no, no, I-I think like a sea-weed brain" said Nico in horror.

A wave of pain hit me. I remembered Annabeth calling me that; and I think the pain showed on my face because Nico started talking.

"Oh, Perce, I…I didn't mean it like that . . . I'm sorry"

"No problem…" I said blinking slightly to fight back a few tears threatening to escape.

"Seaweed brain?" My dad asked curiously.

"A nick name my first girlfriend gave me." I whispered in a soft tone.

Luckily he didn't press on the matter, I wasn't sure I could take more mentioning of Annabeth.

**I dreamed I was in a dark palace at the top of a mountain. Unfortunately, I recognized it: the palace of the Titans on top of Mount Othrys, otherwise known as Mount Tamalpais, in California.**

**The main pavilion was open to the night, ringed with black Greek columns and statues of the Titans. Torchlight glowed against the black marble floor. In the centre of the room, an armoured giant struggled under the weight of a swirling funnel cloud.**

Instinctively, my hand went to the grey streak in my hair. I fingered it, remembering the fun times I had with Annabeth but I couldn't help wondering what would happen if she lived and I married her.

**-Atlas, holding up the sky. Two other giant men stood nearby over a bronze brazier,** **studying images in the flames.**

**"Quite an explosion." one said. He wore black armour studded with silver dots like a starry night. His face was covered in a war helm with a ram's horn curling on either side.**

**"It doesn't matter." the other said. This Titan was dressed in gold robes, with golden eyes like Kronos.** **His entire body glowed. He reminded me of Apollo, God of the Sun,**

"Don't worry Apollo. I didn't mean it in a bad way, both of your auras glow like the sun." Apollo just nodded.

**Except the Titan's light was harsher, and his expression crueller. "The gods have answered the challenge. Soon they will be destroyed."** **The images in the fire were hard to make out: storms, buildings crumbling, mortals screaming in terror.**

**"I will go east to marshal our forces," the golden Titan said. "Krios, you shall remain and guard Mount Othrys."**

"That didn't turn out too well, if I remember correctly, Jason kicked you're Titan ass twice" me and Thalia said in unison.

"Weird," Nico Mumbled to Nathan who nodded in agreement.

**The ram horn dude grunted. "I always get the stupid jobs. Lord of the South. Lord of Constellations. Now I get to babysit Atlas while**_**you**_**have all the fun."** **Under the whirlwind of clouds, Atlas bellowed in agony, "Let me out, curse you! I am your greatest warrior. Take my burden so I may fight!"**

**"Quiet!" the golden Titan roared. "You had your chance, Atlas. You failed. Kronos likes you just where you are. As for you, Krios, do your duty."**

**"And if you need more warriors?" Krios asked. "Our treacherous nephew in the tuxedo will not do you much good in a fight."**

**The golden Titan laughed. "Don't worry about him. Besides, the gods can barely handle our first little challenge. They have no idea how many others we have in store. Mark my words, in a few days' time, Olympus will be in ruins, and we will meet here again to celebrate the dawn of the Sixth Age!"**

"I know, it's gonna be great…NOT!" I said.

**The golden Titan erupted into flames and disappeared.** **"Oh, sure," Krios grumbled. "He gets to erupt into flames. I get to wear these stupid ram's horns."**

"Oh shut up and stop whining," I exclaimed, from the head of the council, "man it feels good to take someone who abuses power away from too much power"

**The scene shifted. Now I was outside the pavilion, hiding in the shadows of a Greek column. A boy stood next to me, eavesdropping on the Titans. He had dark silky hair, pale skin, and dark clothes-**

Nico sighed. "Oh goodie; here I come."

**-My friend Nico di Angelo; the son of Hades.**

I Glared at Nico and he just looked away.

**He looked straight at me, his expression grim. "You see, Percy?" he whispered "You're running out of time. Do you really think you can beat them without my plan?" His words washed over me as cold as the ocean floor, and my dream went black.**

"**Percy?" a deep voice said. My head felt like it had been microwaved in tinfoil. I opened my eyes and saw a large shadowy figure looming over me.**

**"Beckendorf?" I asked hopefully.**

**"No, brother."** **My eyes refocused. I was looking at a Cyclops-a misshapen** **face, ratty brown hair, one big brown eye full of concern. "Tyson?"**

**My brother broke into a toothy grin. "Yay! Your brain works!"**

**"**WasI really like that?" asked Tyson "Yes!" Thalia, Nico, Nathan, Luna, and I all said in unison.

Tyson just huffed.

**I wasn't so sure.**

"Not a word," I said pointing a glare at Thalia and Nico who both had their mouths open, about to say something before thinking better over it and closing their mouths and sitting still.

**My body felt weightless and cold. My voice sounded wrong. I could hear Tyson, but it was more like I was hearing vibrations inside my skull, not the regular** **sounds.**

**I sat up, and a gossamer sheet floated away. I was on a bed made of silky woven kelp, in a room panelled with abalone shell. Glowing pearls the size of basketballs floated around the ceiling, providing light. I was under water.**

**Now, being the son of Poseidon and all, I was okay with this. I can breathe underwater just fine, and my clothes don't even get wet unless I want them to. But it was still a bit of a shock when a hammerhead shark drifted through the bedroom** **window, regarded me, and then swam calmly out the opposite side of the room.**

**"Where-"**

**"Daddy's palace," Tyson said.**

**Under different circumstances, I would've been excited. I'd never visited Poseidon's realm, and I'd been dreaming about it for years. But my head hurt. My shirt was still speckled with burn marks from the explosion. My arm and leg wounds had healed-just being in the ocean can do that for me, given enough time-but I still felt like I'd been trampled by a Lastrygonian soccer team in cleats.**

"How would you know this." my dad asked me with his eyes narrowed

"I sort of got bored when I was fifteen and challenged a group of Lastrygonian giants to a soccer match, we tied" I said nonchalantly.

I didn't realize my dad turned into a pile of water, _crap!_

Athena looked at Poseidon and snorted. Looking back at me she said "Don't worry. This happens whenever Demeter tries feeding him cereal."

Demeter looked up at the mention of cereal, "Who's hungry?" she asked turning her gaze around the room, trying to find someone who would want some. Hades shuddered, he knew from past experiences never to take Demeter up on such an offer, he sometimes considered giving her a job at the field of punishment.

Everyone at once, screamed "NO!" and they turned back to the story, with Demeter pouting.

**"How long-"**

**"We found you last night," Tyson said, "sinking through the water."**

**"The**_**Princess Andromeda**_**?"**

**"Went ka-boom," Tyson confirmed.**

Hephaestus bit back tears. Aphrodite saw this and went to give him a hug while he silently cried on her shoulder, for the first time in her life she seemed not to care about her clothes or herself for that matter, I knew reading these books would be the best for the gods of the past.

"**Beckendorf** **was on board,did you find . . ."**

**Tyson's face darkened. "No sign of him. I am sorry, brother."**

Hephaestus then muttered from his hug with Aphrodite, "Not as much as me; not as much as me…"

**I stared out the window into deep blue water. Beckendorf was supposed to go to college in the fall. He had a girlfriend, lots of friends, and his whole life ahead of him. He couldn't be**_**gone.**_**Maybe he'd made it off the ship like I had. Maybe he'd jumped over the side . . . and what? He couldn't have survived a hundred-foot fall into the water like I could. He couldn't have put enough distance between himself and the explosion.**

**I knew in my gut he was dead. He'd sacrificed himself to take out the**_**Princess Andromeda,**_**and I had abandoned him.**

"Perce, when are you gonna stop blaming yourself," asked Nico slightly frustrated with his friend who always seemed to want the world on his shoulders.

"When Chaos comes down and tells me to" I said.

**I thought about my dream: the Titans discussing the explosion as if it didn't matter, Nico di Angelo warning me that I would never beat Kronos without following his plan—a dangerous idea I'd been avoiding for more than a year.**"

**A distant blast shook the room. Green light blazed outside,** **turning the whole sea as bright as noon.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**Tyson looked worried. "Daddy will explain. Come, he is blowing up monsters."**

The puddle of water known as my dad gurgled and bubbled, as if wanting to reform again but not sure if it was the right time.

**The palace might have been the most amazing place I'd ever seen**

**If it hadn't been in the process of getting destroyed. We swam to the end of a long hallway and shot upward on a geyser. As we rose over the rooftops I caught my breath—well, if you can catch your breath underwater**.

**The palace was as big as the city on Mount Olympus, with wide courtyards, gardens, and columned pavilions. The gardens were sculpted with coral colonies and glowing sea plants. Twenty or thirty buildings were made of abalone, white but gleaming with rainbow colours. Fish and octopi darted in and out of the windows. The paths were lined with glowing pearls like Christmas lights.**

The other gods looked at my dad in awe, "lucky" they all said to the puddle of water.

**The main courtyard was filled with warriors—mermen with fish tails from the waist down and human bodies from the waist up, except their skin was blue, which I'd never known before. Some were tending the wounded. Some were sharpening spears and swords. One passed us, swimming in a hurry. His eyes were bright green, like that stuff they put in glow sticks, and his teeth were shark teeth. They don't show you stuff like that in**_**The Little Mermaid.**_

"No shit Sherlock," said Nico.

I just glared at him and he shuddered in fear.

**Outside the main courtyard stood large fortifications—towers, walls, and anti-siege weapons—but most of these had been smashed to ruins. Others were blazing with a strange green light that I knew well—Greek fire, which can burn even underwater.**

**Beyond this, the sea floor stretched into gloom. I could see battles raging—flashes of energy, explosions, and the glint of armies clashing. A regular human would've found it too dark to see. Heck, a regular human would've been crushed by the pressure and frozen by the cold. Even my heat-sensitive eyes couldn't make out exactly what was going on.**

**At the edge of the palace complex, a temple with a red coral roof exploded, sending fire and debris streaming in slow motion across the farthest gardens. Out of the darkness above, an enormous form appeared—a squid larger than any skyscraper. It was surrounded by a glittering cloud of dust—at least I thought it was dust, until I realized it was a swarm of mermen trying to attack the monster. The squid descended on the palace and swatted its tentacles, smashing a whole column of warriors. Then a brilliant arc of blue light shot from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings. The light hit the giant squid, and the monster dissolved like food colouring in water.**

**"Daddy," Tyson said, pointing to where the light had come from.**

**"He did that?" I suddenly felt more hopeful. My dad had unbelievable powers. He was the god of the sea. He could deal with this attack, right? Maybe he'd let me help.**

"Nope not as a demi-god," said my dad who went back to his normal state making most of the people jump.

**"Have you been in the fight?" I asked Tyson in awe. "Like bashing heads with your awesome Cyclops strength and stuff?"**

**Tyson pouted, and immediately I knew I'd asked a bad question, "I have been . . . fixing weapons," he mumbled. "Come. Let's go find Daddy."**

**I know this might sound weird to people with, like, regular parents, but I'd only seen my dad four or five times in my life, and never for more than a few minutes. The Greek gods don't exactly show up for their kids' basketball games. Still, I thought I would recognize Poseidon on sight.**

**I was wrong.**

**The roof of the temple was a big open deck that had been set up as a command centre. A mosaic on the floor showed an exact map of the palace grounds and the surrounding** **ocean, but the mosaic moved. Colour stone tiles representing different armies and sea monsters shifted around as the forces changed position. Buildings that collapsed in real life also collapsed in the picture.**

**Standing around the mosaic, grimly studying the battle, was a strange assortment of warriors, but none of them looked like my dad. I was searching for a big guy with a good tan and a black beard, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.**

"If the war is a bad as i think it is, then i will probably look like an old man" said my dad

"I know'' I mumbled looking down.

**There was nobody like that. One guy was a merman with two fish tails instead of one. His skin was green, his armour studded with pearls. His black hair was tied in a ponytail, and he looked young—though it's hard to tell with non-humans. They could be a thousand years old or three. Standing next to him was an old man with a bushy white beard and grey hair. His battle armour seemed to weigh him down. He had green eyes and smile wrinkles around his eyes, but he wasn't smiling now. He was studying the map and leaning on a large metal staff. To his right stood a beautiful woman in green armour with flowing black hair and strange little horns like crab claws. And there was a dolphin—just a regular dolphin, but it was** **staring at the map intently.**

**"Delphin," the old man said. "Send Palaemon and his legion of sharks to the western front. We have to neutralize those leviathans."**

**The dolphin spoke in a chattering voice, but I could understand it in my mind: '**_**Yes, lord!' **_**It sped away.**

**I looked in dismay at Tyson, then back at the old man.**

**It didn't seem possible, but . . . "Dad?" I asked.**

**The old man looked up. I recognized the twinkle in his eyes, but his face . . . he looked like he'd aged forty years.**

**"Hello, Percy."**

**"What—what happened to you?"**

**"**The war my boy, the war" said my dad.

**Tyson nudged me. He was shaking his head so hard I was afraid it would fall off, but Poseidon didn't look offended.**

**"It's all right, Tyson," he said. "Percy, excuse my appearance.** **The war has been hard on me."**

**"But you're immortal," I said quietly. "You can look . . . any way you want."**

**"**I reflect the state of my realm" my dad said with a soft sigh "and by what this book is saying it's quite grim."

**"I reflect the state of my realm," he said. "And right now that state is quite grim.**

"That was Major de ja vu." I said.

**Percy, I should introduce you—I'm afraid you just missed my lieutenant Delphin, God of the Dolphins. This is my, er, wife, Amphitrite. My dear—**_**"**_

"This is gonna be awkward" said Apollo

"Really" I fake gasped "I never could have guessed" I said my voice thick with sarcasm.

**The lady in green armour stared at me coldly, then crossed her arms and said, "Excuse me, my lord. I am needed in the battle."**

"I was right!''

**She swam away.**

**I felt pretty awkward, but I guess I couldn't blame her. I'd never thought about it much, but my dad had an immortal wife. All his romances with mortals, including with my mom . . . well, Amphitrite probably didn't like that much.**

**Poseidon cleared his throat. "Yes, well . . . and this is my son Triton. Er, my**_**other**_**son."**

**"Your son and heir," the green dude corrected. His double fish tails swished back and forth. He smiled at me, but there was no friendliness in his eyes. "Hello, Perseus Jackson. Come to help at last?"**

**He acted like I was late or lazy. If you can blush underwater, I probably did.**

**"Tell me what to do," I said.**

**Triton smiled like that was a cute suggestion-like I was a slightly amusing dog that had barked for him or something. He turned to Poseidon. "I will see to the front line, Father. Don't worry.**_**I**_**will not fail."**

**He nodded politely to Tyson. How come I didn't get that much respect? Then he shot off into the water.** **Poseidon sighed. He raised his staff, and it changed into his regular weapon-a huge three-pointed trident.** **The tip glowed with blue light, and the water around it boiled with energy.**

**"I'm sorry about that," he told me.**

**A huge sea serpent appeared from above us and spiralled down toward the roof. It was bright orange with a fanged mouth big enough to swallow a gymnasium. Hardly looking up, Poseidon pointed his trident at the beast and zapped it with blue energy.**_**Ka-boom!**_

**The monster burst into a million goldfish, which all swam off in terror.**

**"My family is anxious," Poseidon continued as if nothing had happened. "The battle against Oceanus is going poorly."**

**He pointed to the edge of the mosaic. With the butt of his trident he tapped the image of a merman larger than the rest, with the horns of a bull. He appeared to be riding a chariot pulled by crawfish, and instead of a sword he wielded a live serpent.**

**"Oceanus," I said, trying to remember.**

**"The Titan of the sea?"**

**Poseidon nodded. "He was neutral in the first war of gods and Titans. But Kronos has convinced him to fight. This is . . . well, it's not a good sign. Oceanus would not commit unless he was sure he could pickthe winning side."**

**"He looks stupid," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "I mean, who fights with a snake?"**

**"Daddy will tie it in knots," Tyson said firmly.**

**Poseidon smiled, but he looked weary. "I appreciate your faith. We have been at war almost a year now. My powers are taxed. And still he finds new forces to throw at me-sea monsters so ancient I had forgotten about them."**

**I heard an explosion in the distance. About half a mile away, a mountain of coral disintegrated under the weight of two giant creatures. I could dimly make out their shapes. One was a lobster. The other was a giant humanoid like a Cyclops, but he was surrounded by a flurry of limbs. At first I thought he wearing a bunch of giant octopi. Then I realized they were his own arms -a hundred flailing, fighting arms.**

**"Braires!" I said.**

**I was happy to see him, but he looked like he was fighting for his life. He was the last of his kind-a Hundred-Handed One, cousin of the Cyclopes. We'd saved him from Kronos's prison last summer, and I knew he'd come to help Poseidon, but I hadn't heard of him since.**

**"He fights well," Poseidon said. "I wish we had a whole army like him, but he is the only one."**

**I watched as Braires bellowed in rage and picked up the lobster, which thrashed and snapped its pincers.**

**He threw it off the coral mountain, and the lobster disappeared into the darkness. Braires swam after it, his hundred arms spinning like the blades of a motorboat.**

**"Percy, we may not have much time," my dad said. "Tell me of your mission. Did you see Kronos?"**

**I told him everything, though my voice choked up when I explained about Beckendorf. I looked down at the courtyards below and saw hundreds of wounded mermen lying on makeshift cots. I saw rows of coral mounds that must've been hastily made graves.**

**I realized Beckendorf wasn't the first death. He was only one of hundreds, maybe thousands. I'd never felt so angry and helpless.**

**Poseidon stroked his beard. "Percy, Beckendorf chose a heroic death. You bear no blame for that. Kronos's army will be in disarray. Many were destroyed."**

**"But we didn't kill him, did we?"**

**As I said it, I knew it was a naive hope. We might blow up his ship and disintegrate his monsters, but a Titan lord wouldn't be so easy to kill.**

**"No," Poseidon admitted. "But you've bought our side some time."**

**"There were demigods on that ship," I said, thinking of the kid I'd seen in the stairwell. Somehow I'd allowed myself to concentrate on the monsters and Kronos. I'd convinced myself that destroying their ship was all right because they were evil, they were sailing to attack my city, and besides, they couldn't really be permanently killed. Monsters just vaporized and re-formed eventually. But demigods . . .**

**Poseidon put his hand on my shoulder. "Percy, there were only a few demigod warriors aboard that ship, and they all chose to battle for Kronos. Perhaps some heeded your warning and escaped. If they did not . . . they chose their path."**

**"They were brainwashed!" I said. "Now they're dead and Kronos is still alive. That's supposed to make me feel better?"** **I glared at the mosaic-little tile explosions destroying tile monsters. It seemed so easy when it was just a picture.**

**Tyson put his arm around me. If anybody else had tried that, I would've pushed him away, but Tyson was too big and stubborn. He hugged me whether I wanted it or not. "Not your fault, brother. Kronos does not explode good. Next time we will use a big stick."**

**"Percy," my father said. "Beckendorf's sacrifice wasn't in vain. You have scattered the invasion force. New York will be safe for a time, which frees the other Olympians to deal with the bigger threat."**

**"The bigger threat?" I thought about what the golden Titan had said in my dream:**_**The gods have answered the challenge. Soon they will be destroyed.**_

Athena jumped up. "This is a trap! Father, this is a trap!"

Poseidon chuckled. "Athena, this is a book. We are reading a book."

Athena glared at Poseidon. "So, Barnacle Brain? This will happen in the future."

"Yes, but it is not happening now, so no need to jump up. _Owl Head._"

**A shadow passed over my father's face. "You've had enough sorrow for one day. Ask Chiron when you return to camp."**

**"Return to camp? But you're in trouble here. I want to help!"**

**"You can't, Percy. Your job is elsewhere."**

**I couldn't believe I was hearing this. I looked at Tyson for backup.**

**My brother chewed his lip. "Daddy . . . Percy can fight with a sword. He is good. "I know that," Poseidon said gently.**

**"Dad, I can help," I said. "I know I can. You're not going to hold out here much longer."**

**A fireball launched into the sky from behind the enemy lines. I thought Poseidon would deflect it or something, but it landed on the outer corner of the yard and exploded, sending mermen tumbling through the water. Poseidon winced as if he'd just been stabbed.**

**"Return to camp," he insisted. "And tell Chiron it is time."**

**"For what?"**

**"You must hear the prophecy. The**_**entire**_**prophecy."**

The gods looked at me in shame of the responsibility they had put upon the son of Poseidon, ''What? Someone had to be the child of the prophecy"

**I didn't need to ask him which prophecy. I'd been hearing about the "Great Prophecy" for years, but nobody would ever tell me the whole thing. All I knew was that I was supposed to make a decision that would decide the fate of the world** **but no pressure**.

"You. Are. Crazy" stated Apollo.

"And you just figured it out?" He nodded. "Wow you're slower than me when I was a demigod"

**"What if**_**this**_**is the decision?" I said. "Staying here to light, or leaving? What if I leave and you . . ."**

**I couldn't say**_**die.**_**Gods weren't supposed to die, but I'd seen it happen. Even if they didn't die, they could be reduced to nearly nothing, exiled, imprisoned in the depths of Tartarus like Kronos had been.**

**"Percy, you must go," Poseidon insisted. "I don't know what your final decision will be, but your fight lies in the world above. If nothing else, you must warn your friends at camp. Kronos knew your plans. You have a spy. We will hold here. We have no choice."**

**Tyson gripped my hand desperately. "I will miss you, brother!"**

**Watching us, our father seemed to age another ten years. "Tyson, you have worked to do as well, my son. They need you in the armoury."**

**Tyson pouted some more.**

**"I will go," he sniffled. He hugged me so hard he almost cracked my ribs. "Percy, be careful! Do not let monsters kill you dead!"**

"You're very blunt" sated Athena to Tyson

"That was when I was eight on human years, now I'm Twenty-six in human years'' said Tyson.

**I tried to nod confidently, but it was too much for the big guy. He sobbed and swam away toward the armoury, where his cousins were fixing spears and swords.**

**"You should let him fight," I told my father. "He hates being stuck in the armoury. Can't you tell?"**

**Poseidon shook his head. "It is bad enough I must send you into danger. Tyson is too young. I must protect him."**

**"You should trust him," I said. "Not try to protect him."**

**Poseidon's eyes flared. I thought I'd gone too far, but then he looked down at the mosaic and his shoulders sagged. On the tiles, the mermaid guy in the crawfish chariot was coming closer to the palace.**

**"Oceanus approaches," my father said. "I must meet him in battle."**

**I'd never been scared for a god before, but I didn't see how my dad could face this Titan and win. "I will hold," Poseidon promised. "I will not give up my domain. Just tell me, Percy, do you still have the birthday gift I gave you last summer?"**

**I nodded and pulled out my camp necklace. It had a bead for every summer I'd been at Camp Half-Blood, but since last year I'd also kept a sand dollar on the cord. My father had given it to me for my fifteenth birthday. He'd told me I would know when to "spend it," but so far I hadn't figured out what he meant. All I knew was that it didn't fit the vending machines in the school cafeteria.**

"You really, tried that?" My dad asked chuckling.

It was the LAST! TWINKIE" I said and for some reason only I could see the logic in that.

**"The time is coming," he promised. "With luck, I will see you for your birthday next week, and we will have a proper celebration." He smiled, and for a moment I saw the old light in his eyes.**

**Then the entire sea grew dark in front of us, like an inky storm was rolling in. Thunder crackled, which should've been impossible underwater. A huge icy presence was approaching. I sensed a wave of fear** **roll through the armies below us.**

**"I must assume my true godly form," Poseidon said. "Go and good luck, my son."**

**I wanted to encourage him, to hug him or something, but knew better than to stick around. When a god assumes his true form, the power is so great that any mortal looking on him will disintegrate.**

**"Good-bye, Father," I managed.**

**Then I turned away. I willed the ocean currents to aid me. Water swirled around me, and I shot toward the surface at speeds that would've caused any normal human to pop like a balloon.**

**When I looked back, all I could see were flashes of green and blue as my father fought the Titan, and the sea itself was torn apart by the two armies.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I don't PJATO, HoO or the AC series**_

**(Third Person's P.O.V)**

"I'll Read" Nico said.

**I Get a Sneak Peek at My Death**

**If you want to be popular at Camp Half-Blood, don't come back from a mission with bad news.**

At that Percy looked down in shame, _'I don't even know why they made me a god I'm basically useless…'_ Percy thought.

Hestia sensing his loss of hope rested a hand on his shoulder and Luna being the one who knew Percy the best thought to herself, _'This is because of me isn't it?'_

**Word of my arrival spread as soon as I walked out of the ocean.**

**Our beach is on the North Shore of Long Island, it's enchanted so most people can't even see it. People don't just**_**appear**_**on the beach unless they're demigods or gods or really, really lost pizza guys. (It's happened – but that's another story.)**

"Wait…" Apollo said in confusion, "How the hades does a lost pizza guy get into camp?"

Nico looked at him squarely and said with a measure of seriousness and said "Hermes cabin."

Hermes frowned, "And what did my children do?"

"They prank called a pizza joint."

Hermes nodded as if it all made sense but Apollo still looked confused, "I still don't get it."

Nico sighed, "They prank called but through stupidity and curiosity a pizza guy showed up at the beach in camp."

**Anyway, that afternoon the lookout on duty was Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin. When he spotted me, he got so excited he fell out of his tree.**

"Yeah right, fell." Nico snorted as he began reading again.

**Then he blew the conch horn to signal the camp and ran to greet me. Connor had a crooked smile that matched his crooked sense of humour.** **He's a pretty nice guy, but you should always keep one hand on your wallet when he's around, and do not, under any circumstances; give him access to shaving cream unless you want to find your sleeping bag full of it.**

At that Nico started talking "You know Perce you could of told me that sooner, maybe when I first came to camp" he said in a pissed off voice, to which Percy shrugged.

"Aww, its okay Nicky, we all had it done to us before." Thalia said then a smirk appeared on her face "Well it only happened to us once, not nine times."

At that the room broke out laughing and Nico muttered some obscenities under his breath before returning his attention to the book.

**He's got curly brown hair and is a little shorter than his brother, Travis, which is the only way I can tell them apart. They are both so unlike my old enemy Luke it's hard to believe they're all sons of Hermes.**

**"Percy!" he yelled. "What happened? Where's Beckendorf?"**

Percy and Hephaestus let silent tear's fall in memory of Beck.

**Then he saw my expression and his smile melted. "Oh no; poor Silena. Holy Zeus, when she finds out…"**

"She was so sad…" Percy spoke for the first time in this chapter

**Together we climbed the sand dunes. A few hundred yards away, people were already streaming towards us, smiling and excited.** '_**Percy's back,'**_**they were probably thinking. '**_**He's saved the day! Maybe he brought souvenirs!'**_

Apollo looked at Percy, "Did you bring me and souvenirs from the future?"

"You idiot" started Artemis "Of course he didn't-oh! Never mind" she said as Percy handed Apollo and small rectangular object.

"What is an I-Pod?" He asked.

Percy started talking, "It's an object that allows you to download and store music you listen to whenever you want, and it has eight gigabytes of storage so I think you could download a couple thousand songs."

Apollo wasn't even paying attention; as soon as Percy said music Apollo plugged in the earphone's and listened to music with a huge smile on his face.

**I stopped at the dining pavilion and waited for them. No sense rushing down there to tell them what a loser I was.**

**"**Be a loser it make you become a better winner and a humble one too" said Percy much to everyone's surprise. Athena nodded in agreement.

**I gazed across the valley and tried to remember how Camp Half-Blood looked the first time I ever saw it. That seemed like a bazillion years ago.** **From the dining pavilion, you could see pretty much everything. Hills ringed the valley.** **On the tallest, Half-Blood Hill, Thalia's pine tree stood with the Golden Fleece hanging from its branches.**

**"**How," asked Zeus but when he looked at their faces he said, "never mind then."

**The guard dragon Peleus was so big now I could see him from here – curled around the tree trunk, sending up smoke signals as he snored.** **To my right spread the woods. To my left, the canoe lake glittered and the climbing wall glowed from the lava pouring down its side. Twelve cabins – one for each Olympian god – Made a horseshoe pattern around the commons area.**

**Farther south were the strawberry fields,** **the armoury and the four-story Big House with its sky blue paint job and its bronze eagle weather-vane. In some ways, the camp hadn't changed. But you couldn't see the war by looking at the buildings or the fields. You see it in all the faces of the demigods and satyrs and naiads coming up the hill.**

**There weren't as many at camp as four summers ago. Some had left and never come back. Some had died fighting. Others – we tried not to talk about them – had gone over to the enemy.**

**The ones who were still here were battle-hardened and weary. There was little laughter at camp these days. Even the Hermes cabin didn't play so many pranks. It's hard to enjoy practical jokes when your whole life feels like one.**

Hestia hearth started to flicker and diminish.

**Chiron galloped into the pavilion first, which was easy for him since he's a white stallion from the waist down. His beard had grown wilder over the summer. He wore a green T-shirt that said My Other Car Is a Centaur and a bow slung over his back.**

**"Percy!" he said. "Thank the gods. But where…"**

**Annabeth rain in right behind him and I'll admit my heart did a little relay race in my chest when I saw her.**

**It's not that she tried to look good.**

**We'd been doing so many combat missions lately, she hardly brushed her curly blond hair anymore, and she didn't care what clothes she was wearing – usually the same old orange camp T-shirt and jeans, and once in a while her bronze armour.**

**Her eyes were stormy grey. Most of the time we couldn't get through a conversation without trying to strangle each other. Still, just seeing her made me feel fuzzy in the head.**

Percy smiled in memory.

**Last summer, before Luke had turned into Kronos and everything went sour, there had been a few times when I thought maybe… well, that we might get past the strangle-each-other phase.**

**"What happened?" She grabbed my arm. "Is Luke –"**

Percy noticed the sad look on Hermes's face and started talking, "Hermes, in the end Luke died; but the cause was so great he got streamlined to the isles of the blest."

**"The ship blew up," I said. "He wasn't destroyed. I don't know where –"**

**Silena Beauregard pushed through the crowd. Her hair wasn't combed and she wasn't even wearing makeup, which wasn't like her.**

"So not like her at all" said Percy as he felt the small struggle for composure, even now he had difficulty dealing with those past memories.

**"Where's Charlie?" she demanded, looking around like he might be hiding.**

"I wish,'' All the People of the future mumbled.

**I glanced at Chiron helplessly.**

**The old centaur cleared his throat. "Silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the Big House –"**

**"No," she muttered. "No.**_**No.**_**"**

"I'm sorry" Percy mumbled so quietly, he shook and his hands tightened into fists, fate was cruel to those who wished for the best.

**She started to cry, and the rest of us stood around, too stunned to speak. We'd already lost so many people over the summer, but this was the worst. With Beckendorf gone, it felt like someone had stolen the anchor for the entire camp.**

"More like the entire hull…" Percy said.

**Finally Clarisse from the Ares cabin came forward. She put her arm around Silena. They had one of the strangest friendships ever – a daughter of the war of god and a daughter of the love goddess – but ever since Silena had given Clarisse advice last summer about her first boyfriend, Clarisse had decided she was Silena's personal bodyguard.**

"Good Girl," Ares shocking many in his kind tone.

**Clarisse was dressed in her blood red combat armour, her brown hair tucked into a bandanna. She was as big and beefy as a rugby player, with a permanent scowl on her face, but she spoke gently to Silena.**

**"Come on, girl," she said. "Let's get to the Big House. I'll make you some hot chocolate."**

**Everyone turned and wandered off in twos and threes, heading back to the cabins. Nobody was excited to see me now. Nobody wanted to hear about the blown-up ship.**

**Only Annabeth and Chiron stayed behind.**

Percy smiled again, remembering times with wise girl.

**Annabeth wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'm glad you're not dead, Seaweed Brain."**

"Me two," said Nico.

"Me three," said Tyson.

"Me four," said Nathan.

"Me five." said Thalia. Lune kept quiet this wasn't her place to talk.

**"Thanks," I said. "Me too."**

**Chiron put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure you did everything you could, Percy. Will you tell us what happened?"**

**I didn't want to go through it again, but I told them the story, including my dream about the Titans.**

**I left out the detail about Nico. Nico had made me promise not to tell anybody about his plan until I made up my mind and the plan was so scary I didn't mind keeping it a secret.**

Percy and Nico looked each other in the eye coming to a silent agreement: _It was for the best._

**Chiron gazed down at the valley. "We must call a war council immediately, to discuss this spy, and other matters."**

**"Poseidon mentioned another threat," I said. "Something even bigger than the**_**Princess Andromeda."**_

Percy, Thalia, Nico, Tyson, Lune and Nathan All thought the same thing 'Typhoon.'

**I thought it might be that challenge the Titan had mentioned in my dream.**

**Chiron and Annabeth exchanged looks, like they knew something I didn't. I hated when they did that.**

"We all do Perce," said Nico, taking special care to say _do_ and not _did_; he didn't want to spoil the story or hurt his friend's feelings.

**"We will discuss that also," Chiron promised.**

**"One more thing." I took a deep breath. "When I talked to my father, he said to tell you it's time. I need to know the full prophecy."**

**Chiron's shoulders sagged, but he didn't look surprised. "I've dreaded this day. Very well. Annabeth, we will show Percy the truth – all of it. Let's go to the attic."**

**I'd been to the Big House attic three times before, which was three times more than I wanted to.**

**A ladder led up from the top of the staircase. I wondered how Chiron was going to get up there, being half horse and all, but he didn't try.**

**"You know where it is," he told Annabeth. "Bring it down, please."**

**Annabeth nodded. "Come on, Percy."**

**The sun was setting outside, so the attic was even darker and creepier than usual.**

**Old hero trophies were stacked everywhere – dented shields, pickled heads in jars from various monsters, a pair of fuzzy dice on a bronze plaque that read:**_**STOLEN FROM CHRUSAOR'S HONDA CIVIC, BY GUS, SON OF HERMES, 1988.**_

**I picked up a curved bronze sword so badly bent it looked like the letter 'M'. I could still see green stains on the metal from the magical poison that used to cover it.**

**The tag was dated last summer. It read:**_**Scimitar of Kampe, destroyed in the Battle of the Labyrinth.**_

_**"**_WHAT!' All of the gods of the past said "How did you guys survive?" Percy just held up a finger and motioned for Nico to read.

**"You remember Braires throwing those boulders?" I asked.**

**"**You found him?" asked Zeus, Percy just pointed to Tyson all of the past gods looked at Tyson in Awe.

**Annabeth gave me a grudging smile. "And Grover causing a Panic?"**

**We locked eyes. I thought of a different time last summer, under Mount St. Helens, when Annabeth thought I was going to die and she kissed me.**

Athena was about to yell but when she noticed Percy had tears running down his face, she decided not to say anything but deep down she felt a feeling of something fluttering through her, it was a feeling of dread.

**She cleared her throat and looked away. "Prophecy."**

**"Right." I put down the scimitar. "Prophecy."**

"**We walked over to the window. On a three-legged stool sat the Oracle – a shrivelled female mummy in a tie-dyed dress. Tufts of black hair clung to her skull. Glassy eyes stared out of her leathery face. Just looking at her made my skin crawl."**

Hades shifted in guilt, not his best moment…

**If you wanted to leave camp during the summer, it used to be you had to come out here to get a quest. This summer that rule had been tossed. Campers left all the time on combat missions. We had no choice if we wanted to stop Kronos.**

**Still, I remembered too well the strange green mist – the Spirit of the Oracle – that lived inside the mummy. She looked lifeless now, but whenever she spoke a prophecy, she moved.**

**Sometimes fog gushed out of her mouth and created strange shapes. Once, she'd even left the attic and taken a little zombie stroll into the woods to deliver a message.**

Apollo had ripped out the ear phones and looked at the book in Nico's hands as if it had told him that his sacred cows had just been made dinner, "She . . . moved." He asked in shock.

**I wasn't sure what she'd do for the "Great Prophecy." I had expected her to start tap dancing or something.**

**But she just sat there like she was dead – which she was.**

**"I never understood this," I whispered.**

**"What?" Annabeth asked.**

**"Why it's a mummy."**

Cue Hades looking at the ground in guilt.

**"Percy, she hadn't always been a mummy. For thousands of years the spirit of the Oracle lived inside a beautiful maiden. The spirit would be passed on from generation to generation. Chiron told me**_**she **_**wasn't like that fifty years ago." Annabeth pointed at the mummy. "But she was the last."**

"Not anymore she isn't." said Percy.

**"What happened?"**

**Annabeth started to say something, and then apparently changed her mind. "Let's just do our job and get out of here."**

**I looked nervously at the Oracle's withered face. "So what now?"**

**Annabeth approached the mummy and held out her palms. "O Oracle, the time is at hand. I ask for the Great Prophecy."**

**I braced myself, but the mummy didn't move. Instead Annabeth approached and unclasped one of its necklaces. I'd never paid too much attention to its jewellery before. I figured it was just hippie love beads and stuff.**

**But when Annabeth turned toward me, she was holding a leather pouch – like a Native American medicine pouch on a cord braided with feathers.**

**She opened the bag and took out a roll of parchment no bigger than her pinkie.**

**"No way," I said. "You mean all these years, I've been asking about this stupid prophecy and it's been right there around her neck?"**

"I felt so stupid" said Percy blushing.

**"The time wasn't right," Annabeth said. "Believe me, Percy, I read this when I was ten years old, and I still have nightmares about it."**

**"Great," I said. "Can I read it now?"**

**"Downstairs at the war council," Annabeth said. "Not in front of... you know."**

**I looked at the glassy eyes of the Oracle, and I decided not to argue. We headed downstairs to join the others.**

**I didn't know it then, but it would be the last time I ever visited the attic.**

"For a loooooong time." Said Percy.

**The senior counsellors had gathered around the Ping-Pong table. Don't ask me why, but the rec room had become the camp's informal headquarters for war councils.**

**When Annabeth, Chiron and I came in, though, it looked more like a shouting match.**

**Clarisse was still in full battle gear.**

"When is she not?" asked Nico

"That's my girl!" Ares said, "Always ready to fight."

**Her electric spear was strapped to her back. (Actually, her**_**second**_**electric spear, since I'd broken the first one. She called the spear "Maimer." Behind her back, everybody else called it "Lamer.") She had her boar-shaped helmet under on arm and had a knife at her belt.**

**She was in the midst of yelling at Michael Yew, the new head counsellor for Apollo, which looked kind of funny since Clarisse was a foot taller. Michael had taken over the Apollo cabin after Lee Fletcher died in battle last summer.**

"What?" Asked Apollo his voice three times higher than normal, Artemis looked uncomfortable next to him, obviously not sure what to do.

"I'm sorry," Percy said; he felt that every death was his fault.

**Michael stood four feet six, with a pointy nose and scrunched-up features – either because he was scowling or because he spent too much time looking down the shaft of an arrow.**

**"**It's both" said Apollo.

**"It's**_**our**_**loot!" he yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"**

"Umm, what?" asks almost every god of the past except Apollo and Artemis.

**Around the table, people were trying not to laugh – the Stoll brothers, Pollux from the Dionysus cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter.**

**Even Jake Mason, the hastily appointed new counsellor from Hephaestus, managed a faint smile.**

**Only Silena Beauregard didn't pay any attention. She sat beside Clarisse and stared vacantly at the Ping-Pong net. Her eyes were red and puffy. A cup of hot chocolate sat untouched in front of her.**

Aphrodite looked down her mascara running down her face, _'my poor, poor baby girl'_ she thought with sadness, if only she knew of her daughter's fate…

**It seemed unfair that she had to be here. I couldn't believe Clarisse and Michael standing over her, arguing about something as stupid as loot, when she'd just lost Beckendorf.**

**"STOP IT!" I yelled. "What are you guys doing?"**

Aphrodite looked at Percy but didn't say anything he could understand by how she was looking at him "thanks" was what her face read.

**Clarisse glowered at me. "Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk."**

**"Oh, that's perfect, coming from you," Michael said.**

**"The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!" Clarisse shouted. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin."**

Ares smiled in pride for his daughter.

**"What are you talking about?" I demanded.**

**Pollux cleared his throat. "Clarisse has refused to speak to any of us, until her, um, issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken for three days."**

**"It's been wonderful," Travis Stoll said wistfully.**

The whole throne room shook with laughter, Hermes laughing the loudest and Ares scowling deeply.

**"What issue?" I asked.**

**Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge, right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"**

**Chiron shuffled his hooves. "My dear, as I've already explained, Michael is correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters –"**

**"Sure," Clarisse snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us, and not complain?"**

"No" said Percy, "You matter, you always did…"

**"That would be nice," Connor Stoll muttered.**

**Clarisse gripped her knife. "Maybe I should ask Mr D –"**

**"As you know," Chiron interrupted his tone slightly angry now,** **"Our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war. He can't be bothered with this."**

**"I see," Clarisse said. "And the senior counsellors are**_**any**_**of you going to side with me?"**

**Nobody was smiling now. None of them met Clarisse's eyes.**

**"Fine." Clarisse turned to Silena. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when you've just lost... Anyway, I apologize. To**_**you**_**. Nobody else."**

**Silena didn't seem to register her words.**

**Clarisse threw her knife on the Ping-Pong table. "All of you can fight this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."**

Now Ares looked shocked; a child of war and battle not wanting to participate? The war must be worse than previously thought.

**The counsellors were all too stunned to say anything as Clarisse stormed out of the room.**

**Finally Michael Yew said, "Good riddance."**

**"Are you kidding?" Katie Gardner protested. "This is a disaster!"**

"No shit" Nico said in a snort.

**"She can't be serious," Travis said. "Can she?"**

**Chiron sighed. "Her pride has been wounded. She'll calm down eventually." But he didn't sound convinced.** **I wanted to ask what the heck Clarisse was so mad about, but I looked at Annabeth and she mouthed the words**_**I'll tell you later.**_

**"Now," Chiron continued, "if you please, counsellors. Percy has brought something I think you should hear. Percy – the Great Prophecy."**

**Annabeth handed me the parchment. It felt dry and old, and my fingers fumbled with the string. I uncurled the paper, trying not to rip it, and began to read:**

**"**_**A half-blood of the eldest dogs…'**_

Percy looked at the ground embarrassed

"Dogs?" asked Hades Poseidon and Zeus in unison.

"I have dyslexia, sue me."

**"Er, Percy?" Annabeth interrupted. "That's**_**gods.**_**Not**_**dogs."**_

**"Oh, right," I said. Being dyslexic is one mark of a demigod, but sometimes I really hate it. The more nervous I am, the worse my reading gets.**

_**'A half-blood of the eldest gods… shall reach sixteen against all odds…'**_

Percy could hear the lines swimming in his ear, taunting him in a way that the past horrors only could, _'and see the world in endless sleep'_ thought Percy with the already familiar dread.

**I hesitated, staring at the next lines. A cold feeling started in my fingers as if the paper was freezing.**

_**'And see the world in endless sleep,**_

_**The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.'**_

**Suddenly Riptide seemed heavier in my pocket. A cursed blade? Chiron once told me Riptide had brought many people sorrow. Was it possible my own sword could get me killed?**

**And how could the world fall into endless sleep, unless that meant death?**

_'Wow, I feel bad for my uncle '_ Thought Nathan, _'He's held such a burden all this time, I can only hope to fate his life will peaceful from here'_ Nathan looked at Percy and shook his head, he knew that the chances of peace and Percy working together was something that would never happen.

**"Percy," Chiron urged. "Read the rest."**

**My mouth felt like it was full of sand, but I spoke the last two lines.**

"Sand, as in sand at the beach or sand's if time'' Athena asked.

"Both!" Percy said/screamed, he really wanted to get this over with.

_**'A single choice shall end his days.**_

_**Olympus to per – pursue –"**_

**"**_**Preserve**_**," Annabeth said gently. "It means to**_**save."**_

**"I know what it means," I grumbled. "**_**Olympus to preserve or raze."**_

**The room was silent. Finally Connor Stoll said, "Raise is good, isn't it?"**

**"Not**_**raise**_**," Silena said. Her voice was hollow, but I was startled to hear her speak at all. "R-a-z-e means**_**destroy**_**."**

**"**Wow, who would have thought a bubble brained child Of Aphrodite could be smart." wrong thing to say Athena; Wrong thing to say . . .

_**********graphic content ahead viewer discretion is advised**********_

In an instant Percy had his hidden blade under her neck. He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"You speak like that again I will take a plate of metal and a blowtorch and weld the plate onto your mouth. Then I will grab a spoon and take out your eyes and shove them in your ears, DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ATHENA." he asked in the scariest voice he could muster.

She nodded as much as she could with a blade under her throat. He retracted his hidden blade and in popped back in with a _slchink!_ And he went back to his seat and motioned for Nico to Continue.

********graphic content over*****************

**"Obliterate," Annabeth said. "Annihilate. Turn to rubble."**

**"Got it." My heart felt like lead. "Thanks."**

"More like Iron" Percy said.

**Everybody was looking at me – with concern, or pity, or maybe a little fear.**

**Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer. In horse form, his head almost brushed the lights in the rec room.**

**"You see now, Percy, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole prophecy? You've had enough on your shoulders –"**

**"Without realizing I was going to die in the end anyways?" I said. "Yeah, I get it."**

**Chiron gazed at me sadly. The guy was three thousand years old. He'd seen hundreds of heroes die. He might not like it, but he was used to it. He probably knew better than to try to reassure me.**

**"Percy," Annabeth said. "You know prophecies always have double meanings. It might not literally mean you die."**

**"Sure," I said. "**_**A single choice shall end his days.**_**That has tons of meanings, right?**

**"Maybe we can stop it," Jake Mason offered.**

**"**_**The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.**_**Maybe we could find the cursed blade and destroy it. Sounds like Kronos's scythe, right?"**

**I hadn't thought about that, but it didn't matter if the cursed blade was Riptide or Kronos's scythe. Either way, I doubted we could stop the prophecy.**

**A blade was supposed to reap my soul. As a general rule, I preferred not to have my soul reaped.**

**"Perhaps we should let Percy think about these lines," Chiron said. "He needs time –"**

**"No." I folded up the prophecy and shoved it into my pocket. I felt defiant and angry, though I wasn't sure who I was angry with. "I don't need time. If I die, I die. I can't worry about that, right?"**

**Annabeth hands were shaking a little. She wouldn't meet my eyes.**

**"Let's move on," I said. "We've got other problems. We've got a spy."**

**Michael Yew scowled. "A spy?"**

**I told them what had happened on the**_**Princess Andromeda**_**– how Kronos had known we were coming, how he'd shown me the silver scythe pendant he'd used to communicate with someone at camp.**

**Silena started to cry again and Annabeth put an arm around her shoulders.**

**"Well," Connor Stoll said uncomfortably, "We've suspected there might be a spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Luke – like the location of the Golden Fleece a couple of years ago. It must be somebody who knew him well."**

**Maybe subconsciously, he glanced at Annabeth. She'd known Luke better than anyone, of course, but Connor looked away quickly. "Um, I mean, it could be anybody."**

**"Yes." Katie Gardner frowned at the Stoll brothers. She'd disliked them ever since they'd decorated the grass roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Easter bunnies.**

**"Like one of Luke's siblings."**

**Travis and Connor both started arguing with her.**

**"Stop!" Silena banged the table so hard her hot chocolate spilled. "Charlie's dead and... and you're all arguing like little kids!" She put her head down and began to sob.**

**Hot chocolate trickled off the Ping-Pong table. Everybody looked ashamed. "She's right," Pollux said at last. "Accusing each other doesn't help.** **We need to keep our eyes open for a sliver necklace with a scythe charm. If Kronos had one, the spy probably does too."**

**Michael Yew grunted. "We need to find this spy before we plan our next operation. Blowing up the**_**Princess Andromeda**_**won't stop Kronos forever."**

**"No indeed," Chiron said. "In fact his next assault is already on the way."**

**I scowled. "You mean the 'bigger threat' Poseidon mentioned?"**

**He and Annabeth looked at each other like,**_**it's time.**_**Did I mention I hate it when they do that?**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "we didn't want to tell you until you returned to camp. You needed a break with your… mortal friends."**

**Annabeth blushed. It dawned on me that she knew I'd been hanging out with Rachel, and I felt guilty. Then I felt angry that I felt guilty. I was allowed to have friends outside camp, right? It wasn't like…**

**"Tell me what's happened," I said.**

**Chiron picked up a bronze goblet from the snack table. He tossed water onto the hot plate were he usually melted nacho cheese. Steam billowed up, making a rainbow in the fluorescent lights.**

**Chiron fished a golden drachma out of his pouch, tossed it through the mist, and muttered, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show us the threat."**

"Here comes Leroy" said Nico and Percy in unison.

**The mist shimmered. I saw the familiar image of a smouldering volcano – Mount St. Helens. As I watched, the side of the mountain exploded. Fire, ash, and lava rolled out.**

**A newscaster's voice was saying "-**_**even larger than last year's eruption, and geologists warn that the mountain may not be done."**_

**I knew about last year's eruption. I'd caused it.**

"Caused it?" Zeus asked alarmed, he knew well what lay there and if someone had the power to make the mount. Erupt…

"It was an act of desperation…" Percy muttered as he motioned for Nico to continue, the gods did have one thought on that though: What act of desperation could cause someone to access such a large amount of strength?

**But this explosion was much worse. The mountain tore itself apart, collapsing inward, and an enormous form rose out of the smoke and lava like it was emerging from a manhole.**

**I hoped the Mist would keep the humans from seeing it clearly, because what I saw would've caused panic and riots across the entire United States.**

**The giant was bigger than anything I'd ever encountered. Even my demigod eyes couldn't make out its exact form through the ash and fire, but it was vaguely humanoid and so huge it could have used the Chrysler Building as a baseball bat.**

**The mountain shook with a horrible rumbling, as if the monster was laughing.**

**"It's him," I said. "Typhoon."**

**I was seriously hoping Chiron would say something good, like**_**No, that's our huge friend Leroy! He's going to help us!**_

"Oh!" said the gods then the shock was over, "WHAT?!" They all shouted.

**But no such luck. He simply nodded. "The most horrible monster of all, the biggest single threat the gods ever face. He has been freed under the mountain at last. But this scene is from two days ago.**

_**Here**_**is what is happening today." Chiron waved his hand and the image changed. I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path – ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys.**

_**"Monumental floods,"**_**an announcer was saying. "**_**Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction."**_**The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest City.**

**I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm I could see the giant – just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block.**

**Other smaller forms darted through the clouds, circling the monster.**

"**I saw flashes of light, and I realized the giant was trying to swarm them. I squinted and thought I saw a golden chariot flying into the blackness.**

**The some kind of huge bird – a monstrous owl – dived in to attack the giant.**

**"Are those… the gods?" I said.**

**"Yes, Percy," Chiron said. "They have been fighting him for days now, trying to slow him down. But Typhoon is marching forward – toward New York. Toward Olympus."**

**I let that sink in. "How long until he gets here?"**

**"Unless the gods can stop him? Perhaps five days. Most of the Olympians are there... except your father, who has a war of his own to fight."**

**"But then who's guarding Olympus?"**

**Connor Stoll shook his head. "If Typhoon gets to New York, it won't matter who's guarding Olympus."**

**I thought about Kronos's words on the ship:**_**I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus. **_**Was this what he was talking about: an attack by Typhoon?**

**It was sure terrifying enough. But Kronos was always following us, misdirecting our attention. This seemed too obvious for him. And in my dreams, the golden Titan had talked about several more challenges to come, as if Typhoon were only the first.**

**"It's a trick," I said. "We have to warn the gods. Something else is going to happen."**

Athena looked shocked that a sea spawn could figure it out 'go figure' she thought.

**Chiron looked at me gravely. "Something worse than Typhoon? I hope not."**

**"We have to defend Olympus," I insisted. "Kronos has another attack planned."**

**"He did," Travis Stoll reminded me, "But you sunk his ship."**

**Everyone was looking at me. They wanted some good news. They wanted to believe that at least I'd give them a little bit of hope.**

**I glanced at Annabeth. I could tell we were thinking the same thing: What if the**_**Princess Andromeda**_**was a ploy?**

**What if Kronos**_**let**_**us blow up the ship so we'd lower our guard? But I wasn't going to say that in front of Silena. Her boyfriend had sacrificed himself for that mission.**

Percy Slammed his fist so hard into the arm of the throne chair that it had broken. Hephaestus gave the chair a sidelong glance and waved his hands, already the arm had repaired itself.

**"Maybe you're right," I said, though I didn't believe it.**

**I tried to imagine how things could get much worse. The gods were in the Midwest fighting a huge monster that had almost defeated them once before.**

**Poseidon was under siege and losing a war against the sea Titan Oceanus.**

Poseidon groaned, just great…

**Kronos was still out there somewhere. Olympus was virtually undefended. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood were on our own with a spy in our midst.**

**Oh, and according to the ancient prophecy, I was going to die when I turned sixteen – which happened to be in five days, the exact same time Typhoon was supposed to hit New York. Almost forgot that.**

"Sarcasm, oh, how I love it!" Apollo said.

**"Well," Chiron said, "I think that's enough for the night."**

**He waved his hand and the steam dissipated. The stormy battle of Typhoon and the gods disappeared.**

**"That's an understatement," I muttered.**

**And the war council adjourned.**

"That's the end of the chapter!" said Nico "who wants to read next?" Athena raised her hand and Nico threw her the book.

"**We Burn a Metal Shroud,**" Athena read.

**Hello people the Thunderer of AWESOMENESS here, I'm the temporary Beta until Mandomness can get back to the story. I'm just writing this little part to ask for everyone to review to the story! Authors get reviews; they become happy; they write awesome stories. It's logic people! So please REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**(A/N) WOW, 85 reviews fifteen more then I wanted. I stayed up all night writing this for you guys, you showed true dedication to this story, and I am giving a shout out to Sadie breezy. Okay guys I hope you like the chapter; it's a filler but you guys should like it.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own PJATO or HoO._

**(Percy's P.O.V)**

"I think we should all get some rest it's already 2:34 AM." I spoke.

"Okay" was the reply of everyone else in the room.

"Zeus" asked Percy as he beckoned him forward from the throne.

"What?!" he asked in between a mumble and a growl.

''Stay a moment, will you?" I asked

"Very well" he said as he tucked in his chest, as always prideful.

"I know you are not happy about losing your position as king of the gods I know you are angry with me, but I would like to make a deal with you."

"I'm listing" Zeus said intrigued.

"I'll give you back the position back as king of the gods-"he didn't get to finish as Zeus cut him off screaming in joy

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" over and over.

"Zeus you didn't let me finish" I said irritably, I just knew I was going to regret this…

"Oh!" he said, a little sheepishly, who would've thought Zeus could be sheepish.

"You can be king of the gods if you swear on the Styx to never ignore your kids; all of the gods major or minor get a cabin at camp Half-Blood; Hades And Hestia be made Olympians, and all demigods of all the gods be claimed by their godly parent before they turn thirteen and all of the gods will be allowed to visit their children every four days. Is it a deal?" I asked

Zeus almost looked constipated as he weighed out the pros and cons of the deal; finally love of power took hold.

"Deal" he said.

"Okay Zeus, just swear on the Styx to my terms and kingship of the gods is yours."

"I swear on the River Styx to follow your terms in exchange for _my_ kingship back." Thunder rumbled in the background, signalling the now unbreakable deal. Then

"Okay Zeus now my turn, I Perseus Jackson, King of the Gods, renounce my title of king to Zeus." the same light that hit Zeus hit me then it hit him again.

Suddenly he was standing there in the same suit as the one at my wedding, "I gotta go" I said and flashed to my favourite place on Olympus it was at the tip of Olympus, right on the edge, overlooking Manhattan.

I felt someone shifting down to sit next to me and bit back a snarl. It was Lune, my ex-wife.

Immediately images started flashing through my mind.

**::FLASHBACK::**

At our wedding, I was standing at the alter when the organ started playing '_here comes the bride_'

As she came walking down the aisle, I saw she was silently crying as her father Zeus walked her down the aisle. When I looked to the left I saw my Mom and Paul sitting in the front row, my mom crying and Paul was giving me a big smile. Then I looked over to my little sister Megan Lynn Blofis, when Artemis got to the alter Hera began speaking; (I don't know what comes next so I'm skipping over it; "I Pronounce you husband and wife, Perseus you may now kiss the Bride…"

**::FLASHBACK END::**

Then I remembered that day…

**::SECOND FLASHBACK::**

I was walking the stress of Olympus. I just got back from another planet in space; it's like earth, but no gods, the beings there are the same as humans except they have miss-matched eyes. Anyway I was back a few days early when I noticed some nymphs looking at me crying, I didn't know what was going on.

That was when i heard it, "Stop that Phoebus, It tickles." it took me a second to realize who it was then, it hit me like a tonne of bricks, it was Artemis. I flipped up my hood and started looking for Artemis.

I spotted her in a clearing and climbed a tree so I could get a better look; what I saw changed my life forever; Artemis my wife was cheating on me with Phoebus the god of phobias.

I didn't approach them, I took out a camera and videotaped those two saying loving things to each other, but I left when I heard this, "Let's go to your place and have some _fun…"_ Artemis said. I drew the line at that one but I had to keep listing, "what if your husband finds out?" asked Phoebus "we've been doing this since four months after Perseus proposed to me, that's nine years and eight months and he is on some other planet 20,000,000,000 miles away."

That's when I left and went to talk to Ares. I knocked on his palace door, and he answered in his usual vulgar manner, "what can I do for you Punk!" asked Ares.

"Tell Phoebus to stay clear of me" I said.

"Why?" He asked in confusion.

I showed him the video, and his face went from shock, to confusion, to disappointment, then finally anger.

"I'm Gonna have a talk with Phoebus, even though I hate you. I am sorry for the way my son has acted how can it make it up to you?''

I stuck my hand out, "I want a truce, and I don't want you as an enemy." I told him.

He looked at my hand before grasping it and shaking my hand, "Truce, now how about you teach me some tricks? I don't want to lose when I get my rematch against you." He said.

"I'll show some to you later, right now I need to speak with Zeus and Hera" he just nodded and went back inside his palace.

I flashed to the throne room and yelled "Zeus, Hera, I need to speak with you!"

Soon two flashes of light and the king and queen were sitting upon their thrones, I spoke before they could question why I called them.

"I want to divorce Artemis" I said to them. A look of confusion crossed Zeus face, but Hera looked mad, no furious.

"What don't tell me you cheated on Artemis, and don't want to face her, huh? You gods are all the same." She Said

"Is this true? Did you cheat on Artemis?" asked Zeus, my father in law.

"NO! I have something i want to show you. So i summoned a TV and plugged the camera in and soon the video was playing. Looks of shock and horror crossed their faces.

"I am so sorry nephew, Please hide behind your throne." So I made the TV disappear and hid behind my throne but could still see the throne room.

"ARTEMIS GET IN HERE NOW!" yelled Zeus, soon a flash of silver was there and I saw Artemis with hastily thrown on clothes, her blouse was backward and she wasn't wearing a bra, probably forgot to put it back on, I thought. Her hair was messed up and she had white sticky stuff in her hair that I saw with my trained assassin eyes 'oh gods no!' I felt like screaming till my throat bled.

"Artemis is it true that you cheated on Perseus?" asked Zeus, his tolerance seemed to waver as he saw the now obvious signs.

"Father, why would I do that?" she said in her best innocent five year old voice.

Zeus showed her the video and as he did it he seemed to shake with barely concealed anger.

"Father please, please, please, don't show Perseus! He will divorce me!" she said desperately and my heart ran still for a second.

"I am afraid that is impossible…" spoke Zeus gravely, "As Perseus is the one who took that video." He said and sheer horror struck her like a lightning bolt.

"You can come out now Perseus…" spoke Zeus, his tone saddened; this was after all a mistake by his little girl.

If it was even possible she looked more scared, I walked out from behind my throne and walked straight up to Zeus and Hera "Can I divorce Artemis?" I asked.

"No! Percy Don't! I can explain!" Artemis said crying, I didn't even look at her. Zeus and Hera just nodded and started chanting. Soon a white light hit my left hand middle finger as I don't have a ring finger and my ring vanished.

The same happened to Artemis. I walked out of the throne room ignoring Artemis's sobs, but what she didn't know was I went straight to my palace and screamed; yelled; kicked and broke everything involving Artemis and screamed till my throat started bleeding. I cut myself and I smashed my head against the wall but nothing I seemed to do would make to pain go away or lessen. I was like that for a month.

**:: END SECOND FLAHBACK ::**

"What do you want?" I muttered darkly to the figure next to me.

"To explain," she whispered as she drew her knees to her chest, hugging herself.

"To explain why you cheated and basically broke my heart?" That sure as Tartarus didn't need an explanation and not wanting to hear it I simply walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

_**CHAPTER 8:**_

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJATO or HoO.**

**(Percy's P.O.V)**

As I was walking away from Artemis thoughts were swarming my mind. Why did she try to apologize Is she sorry? I quickly dismissed that thought, why? Why now? Why would she come and talk to me; though maybe she really wants me back, or maybe she's just power hungry? I went to talk to Nico. I found him in the Market, vendors trying to sell him ambrosia on a stick, (The Lightning Thief anyone), "Nico!" I called out and he turned his head in my direction in surprise, "Perce! Do you need something?" he asked in confusion.

''I need someone to talk to" He looked happy that he was my first choice to talk to, "Let's go to your Secret Area!" Nico said.

"Let's" I Agreed, no matter what people thought of Nico, he was always there when you needed him. And we walked off.

*Here it is the long awaited P.O.V of Luna*

**(Luna's P.O.V)**

I felt Like my heart was ran over by a bus, stomped on by Polyphemus, choked by Atlas, shot by Ares and then dropped off a in to a shark's mouth. I made a big, big, **BIG** mistake. I trusted Aphrodite, I listened, I let her get into my head, but worse of all I let her use my insecurities against me. I remembered the day as clear as crystal…

**(FLASH BACK) ::4 MOTHS AFTER PERCY PROPOSED::**

_I was on my way to visit Aphrodite. When I heard her crying through the door, Aphrodite only cries when Ares breaks up with her or something happens to her favourite couple._ _I went to knock on her door,_ _but she opened it before I could knock, as if she knew I was coming… (_If she only knew)

_"Aph-Aphrodite… Are you okay?" I asked concerned, concern for Aphrodite had been so new to me…_

_"Do I look okay?" she asked sobbing, but I noticed her makeup wasn't running, that was odd. It must be a goddess of beauty trick._

_"What's wrong?" I asked. That just made her cry harder,_**'**_**Pfft, yeah right'**__that voiced inside my head said, I mentally told it to shut the Frick up._

_"C-c-come look" she managed to get out in-between her sobbing._ _As I ventured into her palace i felt disgusted by all the pink._ _As we were walking we stopped at her living room and I saw on her TV that my Percy was making out with a blonde in an orange shirt. 'He's cheating on me with a half-blood?' I thought to myself. I saw his wedding ring on and the heart break grew_ _but what i failed to notice was his ring was flickering as if it wasn't there, but I paid it no heed._

_"He-He's Cheating on me…" I whispered in shock, what I also failed to notice was the sly smirk on Aphrodite's face like she planned this._

_"You-" I said pointing a shaky finger at her, "you made him cheat on me, didn't you?!" I asked with tears running down my face._

_"Follow me," she said, I didn't feel like just standing there and thinking she was going to come back, so I followed her up three flights of stairs. Into a room, which had a bunch of hair strands twisted, but they were either miss-matched or similar._

_She walked me over to two strands of hair, one of the strands was red while the other was raven black, and they were intertwined, I saw a grey aura around them._

_"The Fates," spoke Aphrodite, "they ordered me to leave your love life alone and let it be in your own hands…" Now I know for a fact that he was truly cheating on me, so I latched myself to Aphrodite and cried and cried and cried to my hearts consent,_ _but there was one more thing I failed to notice. The grey aura had seemed to flicker and turn into a pink colour, unfortunately I also missed that self-loving smirk of Aphrodite._

_I left Aphrodite's place thinking that I'd marry him and hurt him as much as he hurt me, if not…more._

_**::TIME SKIP:: (Nine years in the future, still in FLASHBACK)**_

_I was getting ready for my date with Phobos. Percy was on a planet over 200,000,000,000 miles away and wouldn't be back for a couple of days. Aphrodite flashed into my room_ _with a smirk on her face that made me scared really, really scared "Guess what?" she asked me._

_"What?" I asked confused, this was a situation I just knew I'd hate, and turns out I was right._

_"I lied" she said simply._

_Huh? "Come again?"_

_"Percy never cheated on you; that was a video of when Percy was dating Annabeth; I used my computer and photo shopped his ring into the video, the grey mist was pink mist in disguise, I lied, " she said simply again._

_"What?" I choked out, my mouth was doing an impression of a fish out of water._

_"You heard me..." she said._

_"I…I need to tell him" I said more to myself, but Aphrodite heard me. She sent me another self-loving and smug smirk._

_"Oh, I can't let you do that Arty, I am finally gonna bed him and then he will be mine, and there is nothing you can do about it!' She said and it finally came to me, she planned this out and waited nine years to tell me._

"_Not if I can help it!" I growled out to her and still that smirk held._

"_Well then, you leave me no choice," she said with a sigh and smiled at me, "I'll just have to do this…" the she started chanting in Greek which I understood automatically._

_"_ I Αφροδίτη θεά του έρωτα και της ομορφιάς κατάρα Άρτεμις Temporarily να πέσει στην αγάπη με τον Θεό του Φόβου φοβίες και να τον αγαπώ μέχρι Percy θεός του χρόνου, του χώρου, betrayal, δολοφόνοι και τη σοβαρότητα να μάθετε και το διαζύγιο Θεά Άρτεμις της Σελήνης και The Hunt σύντομα να πρώην σύζυγό του για τον Περσέα" *

"Oh shit," were the last words I could get. Then I was in a daze.

When I woke up from it, I was in the throne room, in front of my father and step-mother both had looks of disappointment on their faces.

"ARTEMIS IS IT TRUE THAT YOU CHEATED ON PERSEUS JACKSON!" Zeus asked/bellowed gloomily.

"Now why would I do that?" I asked in my best I'm-an-innocent-five-year-old voice. Oh no…

So my father summoned a TV and it showed my saying loving things to Phobos. (and I think you know what happens next so I'm going to skip this part)

"No Percy, please I can explain!" I sobbed out as I watched him leave without even looking at me, soon he was gone.

With that I flashed to my palace and saw myself in the mirror, I saw my hair looked like a bird's nest, I saw sticky white stuff in my hair, EWWWWW! I thought. My clothes were hastily thrown on and I wasn't wearing a bra and…and I'm not wearing panties either, Double EWWWWW, and with that I hastily hopped in the shower and tried to let the pain wash away with the shower soon I IM'd Phobos and broke it up with him and I cried myself to sleep.

**::END OF FLASHBACK(S)::**

"Luna," Said Hermes startling me out of my reverie, "we're about to start Reading, Zeus wants everyone in the throne room now!" I just nodded and flashed to the throne room. I saw that everyone was in their respective seats and so I took mine.

Apollo picked up the book and we knew he was reading.

**"We Burn a Metal Shroud,"**Apollo read.

**I hope you guys like this! I spent a total of 13 hours writing, this I hope you like it and remember the poll is up for only 2 more day so vote; and also please, please, please leave me reviews. I want to get to 100 so please it will mean the world to me and I will be updating soon but please don't push me; thanks hope you enjoyed it!**

*:**I Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty, Curse Artemis temporarily to fall in love with Phobos, god of Fear and phobias,to love him until Perseus god of time, space, betrayal, assassins and gravity learns and divorces Artemis, goddess of the Moon and Hunt; soon to be ex-wife of Perseus.**

**R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The results are in:**

1 Luna 22 Votes 2 Reyna 6 Votes 3 Piper 5 Votes 4 Annabeth 4 Votes 5 Aphrodite 2 Votes 6 Khione 2 7 Drew (she won't be a bitch) 1 vote.

**(A/N) So it looks like Luna will be paired with Percy** **and, wow, 109 Reviews! That warms my heart; let's try to get to 120, eh?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJATO or HoO.**

**(Third Person's P.O.V)**

**"We Burn a Metal Shroud,"** Apollo read.

Percy and Nico winced

**I dreamed Rachel Elizabeth Dare was throwing darts at my picture.**

"So," started Apollo wiggling his eyebrows "Do we have a heart breaker?" Said Apollo with a smug grin he didn't notice the rope dart headed straight towards His cherries until it was too late, "Ow, My Nuts!" He screamed with an oddly high pitch, then Percy yanked on the cord and the curses Apollo made would definitely get banned if it were on some reading site.

Percy just glared at the sun god while everyone was laughing at the god who was trying desperately hard to get his, er, little problem down under in control. It seemed as if something had been positioned to an unlikeable position.

**She was standing in her room… Okay, back up. I have to explain that Rachel doesn't have a room. She has the top floor of her family's mansion, which is a renovated brownstone in Brooklyn.**

"Damn!" whistled Hermes.

**Her "room" is a huge loft with industrial lighting and floor-to-ceiling windows. It's about twice as big as my mom's apartment.**

**"**As I said before; damn!" There was a Cheshire grin this time.

**Some alternative rock was blaring from her paint-covered Bose docking system. As far as I could tell, Rachel's only rule about music was that no two songs on her I-pod could sound the same, and they all had to be strange.**

Apollo now sitting on his throne and not writhing in pain on the floor nodded his head in agreement, not daring to speak.

**She wore a kimono, and her hair was frizzy, like she'd been sleeping.** **Her bed was messed up. Sheets hung over a bunch of artist's easels.**

**Dirty clothes and old energy bar wrappers were strewn around the floor, but when you've got a room that big, the mess doesn't look so bad.**

**Out the windows you could see the entire night time skyline of Manhattan. The picture she was attacking was a painting of me standing over the giant Anteus.**

Percy smiled remembering the various portraits she'd made and how she always showed them in that eccentric way of her.

**Rachel had painted it a couple of months ago. My expression in the picture was fierce-disturbing, even so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy, but Rachel said I'd looked just like that after the battle.**

"**Demigods," Rachel muttered as she threw another dart at the canvas.**

**"**Mortals," Apollo said; his voice strangely high; in mock anger.

"**And their stupid quests."**

**Most of the darts bounced off, but a few stuck. One hung off my chin like a goatee.**

**Someone pounded on her bedroom door. "Rachel!" a man shouted. "What in the world are you doing? Turn off that-" Rachel scooped up her remote control and shut off the music.**

"**Come in!" Her dad walked in, scowling and blinking from the light. He had rust-coloured hair a little darker than Rachel's. It was smashed on one side like he'd lost a fight with his pillow.**

"Hermes looked at Apollo, "dude you, me and Pillow King on third, meet me there after the book is over.

Apollo nodded with a stupid looking grin on his face.

**His blue silk pyjamas had "WD" monogrammed on the pocket.**

**Seriously, who has monogrammed pyjamas?**

"Well," Muttered Hermes, "I need to get rid of mine then."

"**What is going on?" he demanded. "It's three in the morning."**

**"Couldn't sleep," Rachel said. On the painting, a dart fell off my face. Rachel hid the rest behind her back, but Mr Dare noticed.**

**"So… I take it your friend isn't coming to St. Thomas?"**

Percy looked down at the ground wishing he could have gone, but the past, or future here, was something he couldn't really dwell on now.

**That's what Mr Dare called me. Never Percy. Just your friend. Or young man if he was talking to me, which he rarely did.**

**Rachel knit her eyebrows. "I don't know."**

**"We leave in the morning," her dad said. "If he hasn't made up his mind yet-"**

**"He's probably not coming," Rachel said miserably.** "**Happy?"**

**Mr Dare put his hands behind his back. He paced the room with a stern expression. I imagined he did that in the boardroom of his land development company and made his employees nervous.**

"**Are you still having bad dreams?" he asked. "Headaches?"**

Apollo's eyes widened _'he may have a hunch'_ I thought.

**Rachel threw her darts on the floor. "I should never have told you about that."**

"**I'm your father," he said. "I'm worried about you"**

**"**Bull" Percy muttered under his breath.

"**Worried about the family's reputation," Rachel muttered.**

**Her father didn't react-maybe because he'd heard that comment before, or maybe because it was true.**

"**We could call Dr Arkwright," he suggested.** "**He helped you get through the death of your hamster."**

**"I was six then," She said.** "**And no, Dad, I don't need a therapist. I just…" She shook her head helplessly**

**Her father stopped in front of the windows. He gazed at the New York skyline as if he owned it-which wasn't true. He only owned part of it.**

"**It will be good for you to get away," He decided. "You've had some unhealthy influences."**

"**I'm not going to Clarion Ladies Academy," Rachel said. And my friends are none of your business."**

Percy nodded in Agreement.

**Mr Dare smiled, but it wasn't a warm smile. It was more like, Someday you'll realize how silly you sound.**

"**Try to get some sleep," he urged. "We'll be at the beach by tomorrow night. It will be fun."**

"**Fun," Rachel repeated. "Lots of fun." Her father exited the room. He left the door open behind him.**

**Rachel stared at the portrait of me. Then she walked to the easel next to it, which was covered in a sheet.**

"**I hope they're dreams," she said. She uncovered the easel. On it was a hastily sketched charcoal, but Rachel was a good artist. The picture was definitely Luke as a young boy.**

Hermes eyes widened yet saddened at the same time which looked like giant sad puppy dog eyes.

**He was about nine years old, with a wide grin and no scar on his face. I had no idea how Rachel could've known what he looked like back then, but the portrait was so good I had a feeling she wasn't guessing.**

**From what I knew about Luke's life (which wasn't much), the picture showed him just before he'd found out he was a half-blood and had run away from home.**

**"**Wow" muttered Hermes.

The gears in Apollo's head where turning fast, but as always our not-so bright sun god hadn't made the connection yet.

**Rachel stared at the portrait. Then she uncovered the next easel. This picture was even more disturbing. It showed the Empire State Building with lightning all around it. In the distance a dark storm was brewing, with a huge hand coming out of the clouds.**

Percy, Nico, Thalia and Tyson all had the same thought, _'Typhon . . .'_

**At the base of the building a crowd had gathered… But it wasn't a normal crowd of tourists and pedestrians. I saw spears, javelins, banners and the trappings of an army.**

"Uncle Percy," started Nathan "Is what I think happening; actually happening?"

"Yeah," I said with a sigh, "it is."

"**Percy," Rachel muttered, as if she knew I was listening, "What is going on?"**

**"**Well young lady, I think you are going to be my new oracle!"

Don't be ridiculous Apollo" started Athena, really had Apollo nothing better to do but be idiotic?

"He's right" Percy muttered, wow, Apollo actually being right, that just sounds wrong.

"He's/I'm right!" shouted everyone in the room minus the five gods of the future.

"Yup," exclaimed Nico and Thalia at the same time, they looked at each other shocked then turned away blushing.

While Apollo got up and started dancing chanting "I was right and Athena was wrong!" over and over again.

By the eightieth time he said it, Athena's eye started twitching. But the hundredth time he said it Athena exploded, "OKAY WE GET IT NOW SIT DOWN AND READ THE DAMN BOOK!" shouted Athena.

Apollo went back to his throne, like a dog with its tail between its legs.

**The dream faded, and the last thing I remember was wishing I could answer her question. The next morning, I wanted to call her, but there were no phones at camp. Dionysus and Chiron didn't need a land line. They just called Olympus with an Iris-message whenever they needed something.**

**And when demigods use cell phones, the signals agitate every monster within a hundred miles. It's like sending up a flare:**_**Here I am! Please rearrange my face!**_

Everyone started laughing at that, "I-I swear Percy Your mind is G-g-g" Nico started but he broke down into another fit of laughing before he re-gained his composure "going to be the death of me!"

"Oh really? O' Mighty god of death, did you just happen to make that terrible pun by accident?" I asked and again everyone started laughing; me included; the only one who wasn't laughing was Nico.

"Stupid kelp-for-brain cousins…"

**Even within the safe borders of camp, that's not the kind of advertising we wanted to do. Most demigods (except for Annabeth and a few others) don't even own cell phones.**

**And I definitely couldn't tell Annabeth, "Hey, let me borrow your phone so I can call Rachel!"**

"Of course not, she would turn you into a Percy-kebob." said Thalia matter of factly.

**To make the call, I would've had to leave camp and walk several miles to the nearest convenience store. Even if Chiron let me go, by the time I got there, Rachel would've been on the plane to St. Thomas. I ate a depressing breakfast by myself at the Poseidon table.**

**I kept staring at the fissure in the marble floor where two years ago Nico had banished a bunch of bloodthirsty skeletons to the Underworld.**

Nico had a smug look on his face while Hades had a proud smirk on his face. Ah, familial pride, it is a curse, no?

**The memory didn't exactly improve my appetite.**

Nico's smug face got even smugger.

**After breakfast, Annabeth and I walked down to inspect the cabins. Actually, it was Annabeth's turn for inspection. My morning chore was to sort through reports for Chiron. But since we both hated our jobs, we decided to do them together so it wouldn't be so heinous.**

**We started at the Poseidon cabin, which was basically just me. I'd made my bunk bed that morning (well, sort of) and straightened the Minotaur horn on the wall, so I gave myself a four out of five.**

**Annabeth made a face.**

"**You're being generous." She used the end of her pencil to pick up an old pair of running shorts. I snatched them away.**

**"Hey, give me a break. I don't have Tyson cleaning up after me this summer."**

**"Three out of five," Annabeth said.**

"I still think I deserved better than that." Nico nodded in agreement, his cabin wasn't exactly an improvement of Percy's…

**I knew better than to argue, so we moved along. I tried to skim through Chiron's stack of reports as we walked.**

**There were messages from demigods, nature spirits, and satyrs all around the country, writing about the latest monster activity. They were pretty depressing, and my ADHD brain did not like concentrating on depressing stuff.**

**"**Depressing stuff; no one likes," said Thalia, "But maybe Nico" Nico shot her a glare only a god of death could muster.

**Little battles were raging everywhere. Camp recruitment was down to zero. Satyrs were having trouble finding new demigods and bringing them to Half-Blood Hill because so many monsters were roaming the country.**

**Our friend Thalia,**

Thalia Smiled in smug happiness. Class can you say overly proud? Good…

**Who led the Hunters of Artemis;**

Her smile turned into a gut wrenching glare.

**Hadn't been heard from in months, and if Artemis knew what had happened to them, she wasn't sharing information.**

**We visited the Aphrodite cabin, which of course got a five out of five. The beds were perfectly made. The clothes in everyone's footlockers were colour coordinated. Fresh flowers bloomed on the windowsills.**

**I wanted to dock a point because the whole place reeked of designer perfume,** **but Annabeth ignored me.**

"**Great job as usual, Silena," Annabeth said. Silena nodded listlessly. The wall behind her bed was decorated with pictures of Beckendorf.**

Percy and Hephaestus looked down lost in memory lane.

**She sat on her bunk with a box of chocolates on her lap, and I remembered that her dad owned a chocolate store in the Village, which was how he'd caught the attention of Aphrodite.**

**"You want a bonbon?" Silena asked.** "**My dad sent them. He thought-he thought they might cheer me up."**

"**Are they any good?" I asked.**

**She shook her head. "They taste like cardboard."**

**I didn't have anything against cardboard, so I tried one.**

And again the throne room was in gut wrenching laughter including Hades and Zeus.

**Annabeth passed. We promised to see Silena later and kept going. As we crossed the commons area, a fight broke out between the Ares and Apollo cabins. Some Apollo campers armed with firebombs flew over the Ares cabin in a chariot pulled by two pegasii. I'd never seen the chariot before, but it looked like a pretty sweet ride. Soon, the roof of the Ares cabin was burning, and naiads from the canoe lake rushed over to blow water on it.**

**Then the Ares campers called down a curse, and all the Apollo kids' arrows turned to rubber. The Apollo kids kept shooting at the Ares kids, but the arrows bounced off.**

**Two archers ran by, chased by an angry Ares kid who was yelling in poetry: "Curse me, eh? I'll make you pay! / I don't want to rhyme all day!"**

**Annabeth sighed. "Not that again. Last time Apollo cursed a cabin, it took a week for the rhyming couplets to wear off.**

**I shuddered. Apollo was god of poetry as well as archery, and I'd heard him recite in person. I'd almost rather get shot by an arrow.**

It took Apollo a minute to figure out it was an insult, "HEY!" He shouted and everyone went back to reading, ignoring him.

"**What are they fighting about anyway?" I asked. Annabeth ignored me while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both cabins a one out of five.**

**I found myself staring at her, which was stupid since I'd seen her a billion times. She and I were about the same height this summer, which was a relief.** **Still, she seemed so much more mature. It was kind of intimidating.** **I mean, sure, she'd always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful.**

**Finally she said, "That flying chariot."**

**"What?"**

**"You asked what they were fighting about."**

**"Oh. Oh, right."**

**"They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week. Some of Luke's demigods were there with that flying chariot. The Apollo cabin seized it during the battle, but the Ares cabin led the raid. So they've been fighting about who gets it ever since."**

**We ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive-bombed an Ares camper. The Ares camper tried to stab him and cuss him out in rhyming couplets. He was pretty creative about rhyming those cuss words.**

"**We're fighting for our lives," I said, "and they're bickering about some stupid chariot."**

"**They'll get over it," Annabeth said. "Clarisse will come to her senses."**

**I wasn't so sure. That didn't sound like the Clarisse I knew.**

Ares Glared at Percy but he met it head on (_**Does anyone else hear the song 'headstrong' going on in the back of their heads to or is it just me?)**_

**I scanned more reports and we inspected a few more cabins. Demeter got a four.** **Hephaestus got a three and probably should've gotten lower, but with Beckendorf being gone and all, we cut them some slack.**

Hephaestus smiled in thanks in the direction of Percy who merely nodded.

**Hermes got a two, which was no surprise. All campers who didn't know their godly parentage were shoved into the Hermes cabin, and since the gods were kind of forgetful, that cabin was always overcrowded.**

Hermes; Percy and Nico all glared at the gods who had children stuffed in the Hermes cabin. They didn't meet the glares with their own eyes.

**Finally we got to Athena's cabin, which was orderly and clean as usual. Books were straightened on the shelves. The armour was polished. Battle maps and blueprints decorated the walls. Only Annabeth's bunk was messy.**

Percy smiled fondly in memory which made Luna frown.

**It was covered in papers, and her silver laptop was still running.**

**"Vlacas," Annabeth muttered, which was basically calling herself an idiot in Greek.**

Athena looked rather confused "It means Fool," said Athena.

"Like I care" was Percy's response.

**Her second-in-command, Malcolm, suppressed a smile. "Yeah, um… We cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes."**

**That was probably smart.**

Nico, Thalia and Percy Nodded In agreement which they seemed to be doing a lot.

**Annabeth had a bronze knife that she reserved just for monsters and people who messed with her stuff.**

**Malcolm grinned at me. "We'll wait outside while you finish inspection."**

**The Athena campers filed out the door while Annabeth cleaned up her bunk. I shuffled uneasily and pretended to go through some more reports. Technically, even on inspection, it was against camp rules for two campers to be… Like, alone in a cabin. That rule had come up a lot when Silena and Beckendorf started dating.**

Hermes and Apollo gave Aphrodite and Hephaestus a look before looking at them and in perfect unison they said, "Your kids Where Getting It On!"

They soon found themselves being attacked by automatons Aphrodite just looked like she was wondering whether to be proud or disappointed.

**And I know some of you might be thinking, aren't all demigods related on the godly side, and doesn't that make dating gross?**

**But the thing is; the godly side of your family doesn't count, genetically speaking, since gods don't have DNA.A demigod would never think about dating someone who had the same godly parent.**

**Like two kids from Athena cabin? No way. But a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus? They're not related. So it's no problem.**

Percy smiled in memory once again.

**Anyway, for some strange reason I was thinking about this as I watched Annabeth straighten up.**

**She closed her laptop, which had been given to her as a gift from the inventor Daedalus last summer. I cleared my throat. "So… Get any good info from that thing?"**

"She found him?" asked almost everyone in the room, all of the people who went on the quest nodded.

**"Too much," she said. "Daedalus had so many ideas; I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out."**

**"Yeah," I muttered. "That would be fun."**

**She shuffled her papers-mostly drawings of buildings and a bunch of handwritten notes. I knew she wanted to be an architect someday, but I'd learned the hard way not to ask what she was working on. She'd start talking about angles and load-bearing joints until my eyes glazed over.**

**"You know…" She brushed her hair behind her ear, like she does when she's nervous. "This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About…What's important. About losing people who are important. "**

**I nodded. My brain started seizing on little random details, like the fact that she was still wearing those silver owl earrings from her dad, who was this brainiac military history professor in San Francisco.**

**"Urn, yeah," I stammered. "Like . . . Is everything cool with your family?"**

Apollo looked at him with a face that clearly said _'Are You Serious?'_ Percy's Face remained stoic.

"Dude," Hermes whispered To Apollo "He could totally be a perfect Batman!"

'Totally" said Apollo.

**Okay, really stupid question, but hey, I was nervous. Annabeth looked disappointed, but she nodded. "My dad wanted to take me to Greece this summer," she said wistfully. "I've always wanted to see-"**

**"The Parthenon," I remembered.**

**She managed a smile. "Yeah."**

**"That's okay. There'll be other summers, right?"**

**As soon as I said it, I realized it was a boneheaded comment. I was facing the end of my days.**

Poseidon Paled and looked at Percy closely to make sure he was really there and not a ghost.

**Within a week, Olympus might fall. If the Age of the Gods really did end, the world as we knew it would dissolve into chaos. Demigods would be hunted to extinction. There would be no more summers for us.**

**Annabeth stared at her inspection scroll. "Three out five," she muttered, "for a sloppy head counsellor. Come on. Let's finish your reports and get back to Chiron."**

**On the way to the Big House, we read the last report, which was handwritten on a maple leaf from a satyr in Canada.**

**If possible, the note made me feel even worse.**

**"'Dear Grover,'" I read aloud. "'Woods outside Toronto attacked by giant evil badger.**

"Why would Rover be getting messages from other satyrs?" Asked Dionysus

"Oh, no reason, Maybe because he has the Blessing of pan and he might be lord of the wild" said Percy with an It's-No-Big-Deal voice.

**Tried to do as you suggested and summon power of Pan. No effect. Many naiads' trees destroyed. Retreating to Ottawa. Please advise. Where are you?' -Gleeson Hedge, protector."**

**Annabeth grimaced. "You haven't heard anything from him? Even with your empathy link?"**

**I shook my head dejectedly.**

Percy Nico and Thalia Looked At each Other and Glumly said in unison "I miss Grover."

**Ever since last summer when the god Pan had died, our friend Grover had been drifting farther and farther away.**

"It really happened" asked Hermes

"No, not for another Nine, Ten years from now." said Percy.

**The Council of Cloven Elders treated him like an outcast, but Grover still travelled all over the East Coast, trying to spread the word about Pan and convince nature spirits to protect their own little bits of the wild.**

Luna and Artemis Both smiled, thinking of how brave the satyr was.

**He'd only come back to camp a few times to see his girlfriend, Juniper. Last I'd heard he was in Central Park organizing the dryads, but nobody had seen or heard from him in two months. We'd tried to send Iris-messages. They never got through.**

**I had an empathy link with Grover, so I hoped I would know if anything bad happened to him.**

**Grover had told me one time that if he died, the empathy link might kill me too. But I wasn't sure if that was still true or not.**

Poseidon paled "Umm, son, please tell me it's broken."

"Relax dad, it broke when I became a god." Percy said with a wave of the hand.

Poseidon nodded some of the colour returning to his tan face.

**I wondered if he was still in Manhattan. Then I thought about my dream of Rachel's sketch-dark clouds closing on the city, an army gathered around the Empire State Building. "Annabeth."**

**I stopped her by the tether ball court. I knew I was asking for trouble, but I didn't know who else to trust. Plus, I'd always depended on Annabeth for advice.**

Percy, Nico and Thalia all smiled in memory

**"Listen, I had this dream about, um, Rachel..." I told her the whole thing, even the weird picture of Luke as a child. For a while she didn't say anything. Then she rolled up her inspection scroll so tight she ripped it.**

'' Someone's jealous…" sang Aphrodite in a Sing-song voice, Oh, how badly Luna wanted to walk right up to her and cut her tong out.

**"What do you want me to say?"**

"**I'm not sure. You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what would you do next?"**

"Ah, flattering her son, good job" said Poseidon with a wink, Percy looked down blushing a shade of Gold **(He is a god and the blood of a god is golden so i thought it would make more sense if it were gold instead of red**)

**"I'd use Typhoon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West. "**

**"Just like in Rachel's picture."**

**"Percy," she said her voice tight, "Rachel is just a mortal."**

"Who has the sight" said Percy under his breath.

**"But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans-they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of Luke as a kid-"**

**"We'll just have to be ready."**

**"How?" I said. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."**

**She threw down her scroll. "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy." Her voice was angry and hurt. "All it did was scaring you.**

"Who wouldn't be scared" asked Artemis of the past.

**You run away from things when you're scared. "**

Percy set his mouth in a tight line; if she were in his position she would have a panic attack.

**I stared at her, completely stunned. "Me? Run away?"**

**She got right in my face. "Yes, you. You're a coward, Percy Jackson!"**

Percy looked down; bit his lip so hard he drew blood. Luna wanted so badly to comfort him.

**We were nose to nose. Her eyes were red, and I suddenly realized that when she called me a coward, maybe she wasn't talking about the prophecy.**

**"If you don't like our chances," she said, "Maybe you should go on that vacation with Rachel."**

"I should've," Said Percy under his breath

**"Annabeth-"**

**"If you don't like our company."**

**"That's not fair!"**

**She pushed past me and stormed toward the strawberry fields. She hit the tether ball as she passed and sent it spinning angrily around the pole.**

**I'd like to say my day got better from there. Of course it didn't.**

Again Percy looked down.

**That afternoon we had an assembly at the campfire to burn Beckendorf's burial shroud and say our good-byes. Even the Ares and Apollo cabins called a temporary truce to attend.**

**Beckendorf's shroud was made out of metal links, like chain mail. I didn't see how it would burn, but the Fates must've been helping out. The metal melted in the fire and turned to golden smoke, which rose into the sky. The campfire flames always reflected the campers' moods, and today they burned black.**

**I hoped Beckendorf's spirit would end up in Elysium.**

"He will" Hades reassured everyone.

**Maybe he'd even choose to be reborn and try for Elysium in three different lifetimes so he could reach the Isles of the Blest, which was like the Underworld's ultimate party headquarters. If anyone deserved it, Beckendorf did.**

**Annabeth left without a word to me.**

**Most of the other campers drifted off to their afternoon activities. I just stood there staring at the dying fire. Silena sat nearby crying, while Clarisse and her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, tried to comfort her. Finally I got up the nerve to walk over.**

**"Hey, Silena, I'm really sorry." She sniffled.**

**Clarisse glared at me, but she always glares at everyone. Chris would barely look at me. He'd been one of Luke's men until Clarisse rescued him from the Labyrinth last summer, and I guess he still felt guilty about it.**

**I cleared my throat. "Silena, you know Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You meant a lot to him. You made the last year the best of his life." Silena sobbed.**

Percy didn't know the reason she was crying until after the war.

**"Good work, Percy," Clarisse muttered.**

**"No, it's all right," Silena said. "Thank… Thank you, Percy. I should go. "**

**"You want company?" Clarisse asked.**

**Silena shook her head and ran off.**

**"She's stronger than she looks," Clarisse muttered, almost to herself. "She'll survive."**

Percy, Nico and Thalia all nodded.

**"You could help with that," I suggested. "You could honour Beckendorf's memory by fighting with us."**

**Clarisse went for her knife, but it wasn't there anymore. She'd thrown it on the Ping-Pong table in the Big House.**

**"Not my problem," she growled. "My cabin doesn't get honour, I don't fight."**

**I noticed she wasn't speaking in rhymes. Maybe she hadn't been around when her cabin mates got cursed, or maybe she had a way of breaking the spell.**

**With a chill, I wondered if Clarisse could be Kronos's spy at camp.**

After that sentence was said Ares was glaring at Percy once again,

"You think my daughter's the spy?" asked Ares with barely controlled rage. Read: Anger management problems…

"No." Percy said simply.

**Was that why she was keeping her cabin out of the fight? But as much as I disliked Clarisse, spying for the Titans didn't seem like her style.**

**"All right," I told her. "I didn't want to bring this up, but you owe me one. You'd be rotting in a Cyclops's cave in the Sea of Monsters if it wasn't for me."**

**She clenched her jaw. "Any other favour, Percy. Not this. The Ares cabin has been dissed too many times. And don't think I don't know what people say about me behind my back."**

"I agree" said Percy but no one seemed to hear him and if they did they didn't acknowledge him.

**I wanted to say, well, it's true. But I bit my tongue. "So, what you're just going to let Kronos crush us?" I asked.**

**"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot."**

**She charged me, but Chris got between us.**

**"Whoa, guys," he said. "Clarisse, you know, maybe he's got a point."**

**She sneered at him. "Not you too!" She trudged off with Chris at her heels.**

**"Hey, wait! I just meant-Clarisse, wait!"**

"Shit," said Apollo "your kid's got it ba-a-ad." Apollo said to Hermes who only nodded.

**I watched the last sparks from Beckendorf's fire curl into the afternoon sky. Then I headed toward the sword-fighting arena. I needed a break, and I wanted to see an old friend.**

"That's the end" Apollo said, "who wants to read next" asked Apollo, "I will." said a voice behind the six of the future Nico, Thalia, and Percy all turned to see. They all knew him.

"**I drive my dog into a tree."**He read.

A/N** hey guys I'm back hope none of you were effected by sandy and if you were i hope it get better please review i would like to make it to 120 or higher that would mean so much to me hope you liked the chapter **

**peace**


	10. Chapter 10

A/N **Okay here is the whole chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJATO or HoO.**

**(Percy's P.O.V)**

"Mom,"

"Sally"

"Sally!"

"Miss. Blowfish…err…Blofis"

"Sally"

_"Sally! Blowfish?"_ said Poseidon in a voice just below a whisper.

"WHA-what is a mortal doing on Olympus, I should just get rid of yo-" started Zeus until Percy intervened.

"She is my mother, you harm her and I will take you to Tartarus for six months like I wa- you know what I will just force you to fade" Said Percy in a deathly quiet voice.

Zeus Just nodded looking quite frightened. Percy then turned the 40 Year old woman, "Mom? What are you doing here shouldn't you be at you book signing back in 2014?"

Sally nodded "Yes, but I wouldn't be able to see my son and my sort of niece and nephew along with Tyson And your nephew Nathan, Plus I want to know what went on in your head as a demigod."

"H-Hi -M-Miss Sally." said Luna She had seen a lot of scary thing in her life and a mad Sally Blofis Nee-Jackson took the grand prize.

"You" she said in a hard voice.

"Mom" Percy warned "Remember your blood pressu-"

"Percy, be quite," Sally said in a strict voice

"Yes Ma'am,"

Sally turned back to Luna, "You broke my son's heart and for that I look at you like you are a Titan" sally said in a harsh tone. Luna not knowing what else to do nodded and sat back down Sally turned back to Percy, "Now change out of those robes, I want to see my son not an Assassin."

Immediately a flash surrounded Percy and he was now wearing black jeans, Nike high tops, black T-shirt, Wrist watch and Ray bans. "That's better," Sally turned to a stunned Apollo "Apollo will you please hand me the book?" she asked in a nice tone.

He looked like he was about to throw it when Percy's better than batman's observing skills saw it, "Apollo my mother is 60 years old. Don't you dare throw that book," Percy said as you could see the hills of a dagger in his left pant leg Apollo nodded and got off his throne and handed the book to Sally. He turned back with a gulp.

"Thank you," Sally said as she cleared her voice.

**"I Drive My Dog Into a Tree."**Sally read.

**Mrs O'Leary saw me before I saw her, which was a pretty good trick considering she's the size of a garbage truck.**

Most of the occupants of the room looked shocked while Hades just shrugged turning to Percy, "She's that small?" Percy just shook his head

"Now she's so big when she stands on her hind legs she's half as tall as the Empire state building." The shocked looks suddenly resembled something more akin with fear.

**I walked into the arena, and a wall of darkness slammed into me. "WOOF!"** **The next thing I knew I was flat on the ground with a huge paw on my chest and an oversize Brillo-pad tongue licking my face.**

"Her toung is the size of a billboard," Percy said with a sigh. He remembered the time they chased after the mortal's cars. While it had been entertaining it was also dangerous.

**"Ow!" I said. "Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"**

**It took a few minutes for Mrs O'Leary to calm down and get off me. By then I was pretty much drenched in dog drool.**

"Um…ew," Said Aphrodite in disgust. Nobody really minded her, but Luna was tempted to run her through with hunting knives.

**She wanted to play fetch, so I picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena. By the way, Mrs O'Leary is the world's only friendly hellhound.**

Now it was Hades' turn to be shock, "Wow, if she weren't she would rip you Adam's apple out of your throat…"

"Um, again, EW!" you all knew who said that.

**I kind of inherited her when her previous owner died. She lived at camp, but Beckendorf… Well, Beckendorf used to take care of her whenever I was gone.**

Hephaestus's face darkened along with Percy's. Sally patted Percy on the back and he immediately felt better. Hera thought to do the same so she got up and walked next to Hephaestus' throne and lightly patted him on the back his dark look changed to one of happiness and shock. Compassion was something the queen rarely (if ever) showed.

**He had smelted Mrs O'Leary's favourite bronze chewing bone.** **He'd forged her collar with the little smiley face and a crossbones nametag. Next to me, Beckendorf had been her best friend.** **Thinking about that made me sad all over again, but I threw the shield a few more times because Mrs O'Leary insisted.**

**Soon she started barking – a sound slightly louder than artillery gun –**

Ares's face lighting like he had the best idea in the world Percy knowing what he was gonna ask said, "No Ares we will not put gun powder and bullets in her mouth," Ares pouted like a child who didn't get to play in the snow.

**Like she needed to go for a walk. The other campers didn't think it was funny when she went to the bathroom in the arena.**

Nico glared at Percy, "Why didn't you take her out that day?" Nico asked with narrowed eyes.

"I wasn't at camp," was his simple answer. Nico huffed but said nothing.

**It had caused more than one unfortunate slip-and-slide accident. So I opened the gates of the arena, and she bounded straight toward the woods.**

Artemis and Luna smiled. To them the wild was what a milky bar was to a chocoholic.

**I jogged after her, not too concerned that she was getting ahead. Nothing in the woods could threaten Mrs O'Leary.** **Even the dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close.**

**When I finally tracked her down, she wasn't using the facilities. She was in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial.**

Percy growled slightly. Everyone gulped but those who were on Percy's good books. The sound wasn't something you'd want to hear in a dark alley…

**The place didn't look so good. The grass had turned yellow. The three topiary thrones had lost all their leaves.**

Demeter looked horrified. The chocoholic analogy anyone?

**But that's not what surprised me. In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio I'd ever seen: Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.**

Nico glared at Percy, "I'm not weird," he said and to prove his point (not) he summoned a jar of peanut butter and a jar of pickles and started dipping the pickles in the peanut butter and eating it.

"Nicky pass me one will ya?" Nico threw it and Percy caught it in his hand. Percy took a moment, "Nope, you're still weird."

**Nico was the only one who didn't seem freaked out by Mrs O'Leary's appearance.**

"FF, CRUSE NEFT I WEAS LEDF HFF FIRD BEFF FENRID." Said Nico with his mouth full. Nobody could really understand what he was saying.

"Nico don't speak with your mouth full.'' Said Sally, you just couldn't not listen to her.

Nico swallowed "sorry MS- Aunt Sally"

Sally just nodded.

"Nico tell me what you were trying to say." Percy said with a head tilt.

"Of course not, I was practically her third best friend." Percy just nodded.

**He looked pretty much like I'd seen him in my dream-an aviator's jacket, black jeans, and a T-shirt with dancing skeletons on it, like one of those Day of the Dead pictures.**

**His Stygian iron sword hung at his side. He was only twelve, but he looked much older and sadder.**

Hades frowned; his children didn't have the best of luck but was it really that bad? One look at Nico and he had his answer.

**He nodded when he saw me, and then went back to scratching Mrs O'Leary's ears.** **She sniffed his legs like he was the most interesting thing since rib-eye steaks.**

"Understandable," Said Hermes, Nico, Apollo, Percy, Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and Dionysus.

They paused, "Freaky." Apollo muttered.

"You can say that again," Hermes said with a slight shiver.

"Freaky," The not so bright sun god said again. Hermes just shook his head; he'd officially lost hope in his brother's intelligence.

**Being the son of Hades, he'd probably been traveling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places.**

**The old satyr didn't look nearly so happy.**

"Why would he be," asked Demeter. No one answered her.

**"Will someone-what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot. "You there, Percy Jackson! Is this your beast?"**

Percy glared at the floor so hard it started to char a little bit. Gotta love those abilities, eh?

**"Sorry, Leneus," I said. "That's your name, right?"**

**The satyr rolled his eyes. His fur was dust-bunny grey, and a spider web grew between his horns.**

"Ha, Percy where do you come up with this stuff?" Asked Hermes as he wrote it on a note pad.

**His belly would've made him an invincible bumper car.**

**"Well, of course I'm Leneus. Don't tell me you've forgotten a member of the Council so quickly.**

"Yup," said Percy with a shrug.

**Now, call off your beast!"**

**"WOOF!" Mrs O'Leary said happily.**

**The old satyr gulped. "Make it go away!"**

"Wimp," Ares said and everyone nodded in agreement. Not every day you see the god of war saying something everybody agreed on.

**Juniper, I will not help you under these circumstances!"**

**Juniper turned toward me.** **She was pretty in a dryad-y way, with her purple gossamer dress and her elfish face, but her eyes were green-** **Tinted with chlorophyll from crying.**

**"Percy," she sniffled. "I was just asking about Grover. I**_**know**_**something happened. He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus-"**

"Would go die in a hole and be forced to eat his own shi-" He stopped his sentence right there when he saw Sally glaring at him. Note to self, stop saying things like that in front of mom.

**"I told you!" the satyr protested. "You are better off without that traitor."**

**Juniper stamped her foot." He is not a traitor! He's the bravest satyr ever, and I want to know where he is!"**

_**"WOOF!"**_

**Leneus's knees started knocking. "I ...I won't answer questions with this hellhound sniffing my tail!"**

"That's what she said," said Apollo everyone stared at him in shock.

"Apollo that's not even close to being right." said Percy, Apollo just pouted.

**Nico looked like he was trying to not crack up.**

"I was on the inside," Nico said before he took another bite of his pickle.

**"I'll walk the dog," he volunteered.** **He whistled, and Mrs O'Leary bounded after him to the far end of the grove.**

**Leneus huffed indignantly and brushed the twigs off his shirt. "Now, as I was trying to explain, young lady, your boyfriend has not sent**_**any**_**reports since we voted him into exile."**

**"You**_**tried**_**to vote him into exile," I corrected. "Chiron and Dionysus stopped you."**

"Hmm, I must have had a reason," Dionysus muttered to himself. God of insanity talking to himself, anyone seeing a connection here?

**"Bah! They are**_**honorary**_**Council members. It wasn't a proper vote."**

"WHAT!?" roared Dionysus. He flicked his wrist.

"Dionysus! What did you do?" Asked Zeus.

"Incinerated that puny satyr," the wine god said with a smirk.

**"I'll tell Dionysus you said that."**

**Leneus paled. "I only meant ...Now see here, Jackson. This is none of your business."**

**"Grover's my friend," I said. "He wasn't lying to you about Pan's death. I saw it myself. You were just too scared to accept the truth."**

"Like I said before, Wimp" Guess who.

**Leneus's lips quivered.** **"No! Grover's a liar and good riddance. We're better off without him."**

The floor started smoking.

**I pointed at the withered thrones. "If things are going so well, where are your friends? Looks like your Council hasn't been meeting lately."**

"Nice one," said Ares and Percy wondered if the Apocalypse was coming. Never in his life did he expect Ares to complement him.

**"Maron and Silenus ...I ...I'm sure they'll be back," he said, but I could hear the panic in his voice. "They're just taking some time off to think. It's been a very unsettling year."**

**"It's going to get a lot more unsettling," I promised. "Leneus, we**_**need**_**Grover. There's got to be a way you can find him with your magic."**

**The old satyr's eye twitched. "I'm telling you, I've heard nothing. Perhaps he's dead."**

"That's it!" The floor burst into flames as Hestia and Hephaestus were trying to calm the flames. Poseidon, Nathan and Percy doused it in water.

**Juniper choked back a sob. "He's not dead, "I said. "I can feel that much."**

**"Empathy links," Leneus said disdainfully. "Very unreliable."**

**"So ask around," I insisted. "Find him. There's a war coming. Grover was preparing the nature spirits."**

**"Without my permission! And it's not**_**our**_**war."**

**I grabbed him by the shirt, which seriously wasn't like me, but the stupid old goat was making me mad.**

Nico and Thalia flinched "So scary," they muttered.

**"**Wait that wasn't scary Percy? You know the one who set the floor on fire by glaring at it." Asked Apollo.

"No that's slightly annoyed Percy" said Nico.

**"Listen, Leneus. When Kronos attacks, he's going to have**_**packs**_**of hellhounds. He's going to destroy everything in his path-mortals, gods, demigods. Do you think he'll let the satyrs go free?** **You're supposed to be a leader. So LEAD. Get out there and see what's happening. Find Grover and bring Juniper some news. Now, GO!"**

Ares nodded "Nice," He said, which was the closest thing to a compliment.

**I didn't push him very hard, but he was kind of top-heavy.**

**He fell on his furry rump, then scrambled to his hooves and ran away with his belly jiggling. "Grover will never be accepted! He will die an outcast!"**

Now Percy's hair was on fire.

**When he'd disappeared into the bushes, Juniper wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to get you involved. Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don't want to make an enemy of him."**

**"No problem," I said. "I've got worse enemies than overweight satyrs."**

**Nico walked back to us. "Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well."**

**I was afraid I knew why Nico was here, but I tried for a smile.**

**"Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper?"**

**He blushed. "Um, no. That was an accident.** **I kind of… dropped into the middle of their conversation."**

**"He scared us to death!" Juniper said. "Right out of the shadows. But, Nico, you**_**are**_**the son of Hades and all. Are you sure you haven't heard anything about Grover?"**

**Nico shifted his weight. "Juniper, like I tried to tell you ...even if Grover died, he would reincarnate into something else in nature. I can't sense things like that, only mortal souls."**

**"But if you**_**do**_**hear anything?" she pleaded, putting her hand on his arm. "Anything at all?"**

**Nico's cheeks got even brighter red. "Uh, you bet. I'll keep my ears open."**

Nico's face turned red.

**"We'll find him, Juniper," I promised. "Grover's alive, I'm sure. There must be a simple reason why he hasn't contacted us."**

**She nodded glumly. "I hate not being able to leave the forest. He could be anywhere, and I'm stuck here waiting.** **Oh, if that silly goat has gotten himself hurt-"**

**Mrs O'Leary bounded back over and took an interest in Juniper's dress. Juniper yelped. "Oh, no you don't! I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone!"**

"Ha," said Thalia then she turned to Percy "Looks like she doesn't like dogs." she said to him.

"Shut UP!" was his reply.

**She went**_**poof**_**into green mist. Mrs O'Leary looked disappointed, but she lumbered off to find another target, leaving Nico and me alone.**

**Nico tapped his sword on the ground. A tiny mound of animal bone erupted from the dirt. They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off.**

"I can do more than that," he said and touched his sword to the ground.

****15 seconds later*****

"NICO! GET THE ELEPHANT OUT OF THE THRONE ROOM"

Okay fine!

**"I was sorry to hear about Beckendorf."**

Again Percy looked down.

**A lump formed in my throat. "How did you-"**

**"I talked to his ghost."**

"You talk to the dead too much cuz you can talk to me and Pine cone face anytime," Percy said and Nico just nodded.

**"Oh... right." I'd never get used to the fact that this twelve-year-old kid spent more time talking with the dead than the living. "Did he say anything?"**

**"He doesn't blame you. He figured you'd be beating yourself up, and he said you shouldn't."**

"Knows me well," Whispered Percy, Luna being the only one who heard him turned to him but then looked away when she received the harsh glare from her ex.

**"Is he going to try for rebirth?"**

**Nico shook his head. "He's staying in Elysium. Said he's waiting for someone.**

This time Nico, Thalia, Percy, and Tyson looked grave.

**Not sure what he meant, but he seems okay with death."**

Aphrodite looked up almost as if her tiny brain was trying to work and figure out what he meant but then shook her head and went back to fixing her makeup.

**It wasn't much comfort, but it was something.**

**"I had a vision you were on Mount Tam," I told Nico. "Was that-?"**

**"Real," he said. "I didn't mean to be spying on the Titans, but I was in the neighbourhood."**

**"Doing what?"**

**Nico tugged at his sword belt. "Following a lead on ...you know my family."**

Nico, Hades, and Percy glared at Zeus so hard his beard burst in to flames and he started running around the room screaming, everyone went back to focusing on Sally.

**I nodded. I knew his past was a painful subject. Until two years ago, he and his sister Bianca had been frozen in time at a place called the Lotus Hotel and Casino.**

**They'd been there for like seventy years. Eventually a mysterious lawyer rescued them and checked them into a boarding school, but Nico had no memories of his life before the casino.** **He didn't know anything about his mother.**

**He didn't know who the lawyer was, or why they'd been frozen in time or allowed to go free. After Bianca died and left Nico alone, he'd been obsessed with finding answers.**

**"So how did it go?" I asked. "Any luck?"**

By now Zeus was on his throne with patches of facial hair.

**"No," he murmured. "But I may have a new lead soon."**

Nico Looked down in shame Percy gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

**"What's the lead?"**

**Nico chewed his lip. "That's not important right now. You know why I'm here."**

Nico flinched.

**A feeling of dread started to build in my chest. Ever since Nico first proposed his plan for beating Kronos last summer, I'd had nightmares about it.**

Sally looked to Percy "is this when, you know, IT happens?" Percy just nodded leaving the peo-err gods of the past in confusion.

**He would show up occasionally and press me for an answer, but I kept putting him off.**

**"Nico, I don't know," I said. "It seems pretty extreme."**

**"You've got Typhon coming in, what ...a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on Kronos' side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."**

**I looked back toward the camp.** **Even from this distance I could hear the Ares and Apollo campers fighting again, yelling curses and spouting bad poetry.**

**"They're no match for the Titan army," Nico said.**

The gods who had kids at camp wanted to protest but couldn't.

**"You know that. This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke."**

Athena gasped in shock. She'd figured it out, Percy thought.

**I remembered the fight on the**_**Princess Andromeda.**_**I'd been hopelessly outmatched. Kronos had almost killed me with a single cut to my arm, and I couldn't even wound him.** **Riptide had glanced right off his skin.**

**"We can give you the same power," Nico urged. "You heard the Great Prophecy. Unless you want to have your soul reaped by a cursed blade..."**

**I wondered how Nico had heard the prophecy – probably from some ghost.**

**"You can't prevent a prophecy," I said.**

**"But you can fight it." Nico had a strange, hungry light in his eyes.** **"You can become invincible."**

"Did I really sound that crazy?" Nico asked Percy

"No!' Nico let out a breath, Percy smiled, "Much crazier!"

**"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without-"**

**"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!"**

**I stared at him. I hadn't seen his temper flare like that in a long time.**

**"Um, you sure you're okay?"**

**He took a deep breath. "Percy, all I mean ...when the fighting starts, we won't be able to make the journey. This is our last chance. I'm sorry if I'm being too pushy, but two years ago my sister gave her life to protect you. I want you to honour that. Do whatever it take to stay alive and defeat Kronos."**

**I didn't like the idea. Then I thought about Annabeth calling me a coward, and I got angry.**

My daughter convinced you to risk your life for Olympus by calling you scared?" asked Athena Percy just nodded.

**Nico had a point. If Kronos attacked New York, the campers would be no match for his forces. I had to do something. Nico's way was dangerous-maybe even deadly. But it might give me a fighting edge.**

**"All right," I decided. "What do we do first?"**

**His cold creepy smile made me sorry I'd agreed. "First we'll need to retrace Luke's steps. We need to know more about his past, his childhood."**

Hermes Took a Deep shaky breath.

**I shuddered, thinking about Rachel's picture from my dream – a smiling nine-year-old Luke. "Why do we need to know about that?"**

**"I'll explain when we get there," Nico said. "I've already tracked down his mother. She lives in Connecticut."**

Hermes turned chalk white. They couldn't be going to her, could they?

**I stared at him. I'd never thought much about Luke's mortal parent. I'd met his dad, Hermes, but his mom...**

**"Luke ran away when he was really young," I said. "I didn't think his mom was alive."**

**"Oh, she's alive." The way he said it made me wonder what was wrong with her. What kind of horrible person could she be?**

**"Okay... "I said, "So how do we get to Connecticut? I can call Blackjack-"**

**"No." Nico scowled. "Pegasi don't like me and the feeling is mutual.**

"Don't be hating on my Pegasus!" Percy said and Poseidon smiled in approval.

**But there's no need for flying." He whistled, and Mrs O'Leary came loping out of the woods.**

**"Your friend here can help." Nico patted her head.** **"You haven't tried shadow travel yet?"**

**"Shadow travel?"**

**Nico whispered in Mrs O'Leary's ear. She tilted her head, suddenly alert.**

**"Hop on board," Nico told me.**

**I'd never considered riding a dog before, but Mrs O'Leary was certainly big enough. I climbed onto her back and held her collar.**

**"This will make her very tired," Nico warned, "so you can't do it often. And it works best at night. But all shadows are part of the same substance. There is only one darkness, and creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road, or a door."**

**"I don't understand," I said.**

**"No," Nico said. "It took me a long time to learn. But Mrs O'Leary knows. Tell her where to go. Tell her Westport, the home of May Castellan."**

**"You're not coming?"**

**"Don't worry," he said. "I'll meet you there."**

**I was a little nervous, but I leaned down to Mrs O'Leary's ear.**

"I gotta say it was fun in a freaky way," Percy admitted.

"Ha," Nico snorted, "Want to go for another ride?"

"NO!"

**"Okay girl, uh, can you take me to Westport, Connecticut? May Castellan's place?"**

**Mrs O'Leary sniffed the air. She looked into the gloom of the forest. Then she bounded forward, straight into an oak tree.**

**Just before we hit, we passed into shadows as cold as the dark side of the moon.**

**A/N Review please i would like to have 200 reviews before thenext chapter**


	11. Chapter 11

**I don't own PJATO & HoO**

**(Percy's P.O.V)**

"Okay everyone, let's be done for a bit and continue in a time I see fit." Zeus said.

"Okay," chorused everyone in the room minus mom. When I looked back frowning, there was a note in her place.

"Hey everyone," Now the attention was directed to me. "I found a note from the fates."

"Okay, Read it Kelp-for-Brains" Thalia said making me scowl; but I still complied.

_Dear Monkeys…er…Gods and whatever_ _we the Fates Took Sally_ _Back to her own Time…we think you should, get back to reading, and Apollo,_ _this white powder is Awesome_!  
From: The Almighty Fates.

Everyone's face was priceless till Nathan broke the silence. He looked at Apollo as if the god was insane, "You gave The Fates . . . Crack?" he asked in bewilderment and even a tint of…awe.

The son god gave that damn Apollo smile, as if that was the greatest idea ever, and shrugged, "I'm just that awesome…" He flipped his Ray-Bans back down to cover his eyes and lay back conjuring a foot rest; apparently falling asleep pretty contently under the stare of everyone.

"Anyway, we will have a 1 hour break I expect everyone to be here to continue reading in exactly…" Zeus said until I cut him off…

"Fifty-nine minutes, forty-seven seconds, and twenty-eight milliseconds." Every one stared in Shock, "What!?" I asked indignantly, "I'm the god of _time _what did you expect, a flying Rhino?"

"Damn…" Mumbled Hermes and the statement seemed to sum up this whole day.

"O-okay, I'll be out in the market" I said, " Nico, Thalia, You guys coming?' Said gods followed me out of the throne room.

"So…" I started before Nico cut me off.

"Since when do you have a time-machine?"

"Would you believe me if I said I got it at Target?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, of course, because I always go to Target to buy my ten ton time machine!" The sarcasm made me quirk a smile.

"You really should go; they've got some great gear."

'He raised an eyebrow but decided not to pursue the matter. I just grinned at the scowl he showed.

Then I felt a new presence.

"Someone's following us," I remarked continuing walking as they stiffened somewhat.

They both raised an eyebrow and in seeming perfect unison got into a fighting stance.

"Where?" They asked in unison. Then both turned away blushing, okay what's up with that? I'll ask later. I concentrated until I felt my eagle-vision activate, all color melted away until just black, white, gold, and red appeared.

White for the innocent; gold for my target; and red for potential enemies. I spotted the Gold 20 yards back but it was tinted in silver. I loosened my hold on the sight and turned to Thalia and Nico. "I've got a plan, just keep walking I'm going to branch off at the next ally with a dead end and I know he or she will follow me."

"Dude, we can't let you go alone!" Nico said.

"It's Luna." I said.

"WHAT!" they exclaimed in unison this time they didn't blush.

"How do you know?" Thalia asked curiously.

"Gold tinted in silver." It was all the answer I gave. They seemed reluctant to let me go, "I'll be fine, be sure to get me a Steak Gyro." I asked, (If you've never had a Gyro you haven't lived.)

Before they could reply I took off running. It was like breathing to me; the wind through my hair; the felling of freedom; no restraint, just like the ocean. Its times like these I remember what my dad told me:

"The ocean does not like to be restrained." …or something like that's it's been awhile since he told me that.

Now I need to find and alley with a dead end. Alley, No Not a dead end, how about that one, er no, no and just no, ah ha! There we go; I smiled to myself, feeling very smug and soon I was running till there where only eleven yards till the dead end. Bending over and supporting myself on my knees I pretend to pant and act out shape but in reality I could have probably ran quite a few miles more.

Soon I heard light foot steps behind me and I pretended not to notice until she was right behind me then…BAM! I had my hidden blade at her throat. "What do you want Artemis?" I snarled not bothering to use her cover name.

"I want to talk…" She didn't exactly look surprised.

"Why?" I muttered, "So you can tell me that you're cheating on me with Phobos? Hate to break it to you _honey_…" I couldn't talk anymore because suddenly I was caught by surprise as Artemis kissed me.

For a minute I kissed back, feeling the same spark I did when we first kissed; but soon that spark felt like acid on my lips and the happy feeling was starting to be replaced with shock. Soon the shock disappeared and I was felling nothing but, rage! I broke the kiss and just stared at her with hate and disgust.

'Where was the woman I loved now?' I wondered for a second, 'Could this childish Aphrodite like copy really be who I fell for?" It was a fleeting thought. Artemis raised her hands to her mouth and almost gasped.

"Percy I am so-so-so, sorry, I don't know why I did that-"

"You weren't thinking," I muttered as I rubbed my mouth off with the sleeve of my shirt, "Just like you weren't thinking when you cheated one me with PHOBOS!" It was blow to my heart even now. And for a second I wondered, how did it come to this? How could the smart, loving, hopeful goddess I fell for turn into…into…_this!_

She opened her mouth to explain but I took off, running straight up a twelve foot wall, I chuckled to myself, 'gotta love parkour." I wanted badly to forget what had just happened not two minutes ago; but the mild felling of happiness left when my mind went back to the _kiss_ and anger thereafter boiled in me. I took off running until I saw a big white temple overlooking Olympus.

I climbed till I reached the statue at the top, and stepped on top of it and spread my arms and heard the familiar cry of an eagle (assassins creed brother hood anyone?), now felling calm I rolled into a ball on top of the temple roof and tried keeping the tears away… I failed.


	12. Chapter 12

**(Percy's P.O.V)**

I stayed there for about sixteen minutes and thirty three seconds, but who's counting right? In that time I tried to control the tears using techniques I'd sadly used before. Control the breath…In…Out…Slow…Steady…It was during this calming montage I kept with myself that Nico appeared.

"Hey, Perce," There wasn't judgment in his voice; there wasn't a joke about my manliness. Nico understood; he'd lost people he loved too; he just loved them in a different way. He understood; he didn't try to comfort; his voice was calm and friendly, with only that hint of a dark undertone. He knew how little I cared for pity; he felt the same. "We're gonna be reading again soon."

"Let's go," I said and opening a time rift. It basically bends time and space and makes a tear in the fabric of the universe and bends it so I can travel a far distance in a short amount of time. Early on, it was very taxing to control.

So I stepped through the rift Nico following me appearing in the throne room.

Everyone was staring at me; Zeus with anger, Hera with a poker face, Hestia with a nice, kind, caring look on her face, my father staring at me with pride; Artemis with hate, as if I was the reason Thalia left the hunt.

"Hi" I said simply. Putting up a façade of happiness, hiding all the pain and hurt that been eating away at me heart since Art- no, no her, since she-Since she cheated on me.

"Ready to start?" I asked. My voice was calm; like a practiced liar; as if I didn't care for their stares.

Before Zeus could yell at me for being 22 seconds late, Hestia spoke up, "I would like to read," she said. The book was thrown at her carelessly by Hermes but caught by a hand made out of flames. Cool but how isn't the book burned, Oh well…

She cleared her throat.

**"My cookies get scorched,"**

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose in disgust.

**I don't recommend shadow travel if you're scared of:**

**a) The dark**

**b) Cold shivers up your spine**

**c) Strange noises**

**d) Going so fast you feel like your face is peeling off**

**"**So it was fun?" asked Hades.

**In other words, I thought it was awesome.**

Apollo had another of his cocky smiles, "Hey uncle H!" he called out, and I could practically hear the cobwebs in his brain working. "Think I might get a ride on Shadow express?" His voice was excited like a child discovering chocolate. Hades looked at him oddly, before shrugging and flicked his hands dismissively. Suddenly the shadows swarmed on Apollo and for a second he was gone. Then he reappeared with a ballerina's outfit on. Mentally scarring to even the most mentally fortitudinous. Still, funny as Hades though…

He was smiling…well he was, before his he figured out his new wardrobe. Apollo frowned, gave a very shrill squeak and then snapped his fingers, making some of his usually suave clothes appear. "I hate you all…" he muttered sitting down sulking.

Hermes looked at his brother, shook his head and muttered faux-sadly; "That is my family…" Almost like he was mourning the loss of brain cells…

**One minute I couldn't see anything. I could only feel Mrs. O'Leary's fur and my fingers wrapped around the bronze links of her dog collar.**

**The next minute the shadows melted into a new scene. We were on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut. At least, it looked like Connecticut from the few times I'd been there: lots of trees, low stone walls, big houses. Down one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. Down the other side was someone's backyard. The property was huge-more wilderness than lawn. The house was a two-story white Colonial. Despite the fact that it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. I could see a light glowing m the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree.**

Hermes Shuddered, like he was having a flashback. Percy was the only one who heard his anguished whisper; "Poor, poor May…"

**I couldn't imagine living in a house like this, with an actual yard and everything. I'd lived in a tiny apartment or a school dorm my whole life. If this was Luke's home, I wondered why he'd ever wanted to leave.**

The ones who knew looked down, sadly.

**Mrs. O'Leary staggered. I remembered what Nico had said about shadow travel draining her, so I slipped off her back. She let out a huge toothy yawn that would've scared a T-Rex, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard the ground shook.**

**"**Must be a big hound then?" Artemis mused to herself.

Percy found himself answering anyway, "She weighs about six hundred and fifty pounds."

**Nico appeared right next to me, as if the shadows had darkened and created him.**

**He stumbled, but I caught his arm.**

**"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes.**

**"How did you do that?"**

**"Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China."**

**"**China?" Thalia guffawed, "Really death breath?"

Nico shuddered, "That's not funny, I don't know how those people can live by walking out of the street, there's absolutely no personal space…" It just made Thalia laugh at Nico further for his aversion to touch. Nico blushed this time and the look he gave Thalia, with the small smile made me wonder…Oh, well, figure it later, I guess…

**Mrs. O'Leary started snoring. If it hadn't been for the roar of traffic behind us, I'm sure she would've woken up the whole neighborhood.**

**"Are you going to take a nap too?" I asked Nico. He shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week.** **Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."**

**"So we've got some quality time in Connecticut." I gazed at the white Colonial house. "What now?"**

**"We ring the doorbell," Nico said.**

**If I were Luke's mom, I would not have opened my door at night for two strange kids. But I wasn't anything like Luke's mom. I knew that even before we reached the front door. The sidewalk was lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper.**

Once again laughter rang out through the throne room, of course it would be my old friend. Guessing where the Minotaur came in though, it felt kinda foreboding. I didn't voice out my opinion though.

**Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out here a long time-since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.**

Now everyone had a look on their faces saying: _Uh, What?_

**The front porch was infested with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. Brass ribbons tinkled like water and made me realize I needed to use the bathroom. I didn't know how Ms. Castellan could stand all the noise.**

**The front door was painted turquoise. The name CASTELLAN was written in English, and below in Greek: Διοικητής φρουρίου. Nico looked at me. "Ready?"**

**He'd barely tapped the door when it swung open.**

**"Luke!" the old lady cried happily.**

**She looked like someone who enjoyed sticking her fingers in electrical sockets. Her white hair stuck out in tufts all over her head. Her pink housedress was covered in scorch marks and smears of ash. When she smiled, her face looked unnaturally stretched, and the high-voltage light in her eves made me wonder if she was blind.**

**"Oh, my dear boy!" She hugged Nico.**

Everyone looked at Hermes in confusion. Then to Nico and then back to Hermes. Apollo, bless his not-so-bright brain, was the one to voice the Hydra in the room; "Bro…" He addressed his brother, "Please explain to me how Hades seems to have a kid, but some ex of yours says it's theirs?"

Hades nearly let out a growl, "My son is not an _it_, and he is _my_ son!" Hermes didn't seem to respond to his brother and uncle's argument, he seemed to stare transfixed at the ground; lost somewhere in time…

"But!" Apollo tried to point out the flaw in Hades's argument but his sister's voice stopped him.

"Let it go Apollo," She watched Hermes, she'd never seen the messenger god so lost or in pain, "It will be explained soon. Even Apollo seemed to catch on after that.

**I was trying to figure out why she thought Nico was Luke (they looked absolutely nothing alike), when she smiled at me and said, "Luke!"**

**She forgot all about Nico and gave me a hug. She smelled like burned cookies.**

Again they looked to Hermes and then to me, and back to Hermes. My father sighed, "Percy is _my_ child." He muttered the unnecessary words.

**She was as thin as a scarecrow, but that didn't stop her from almost crushing me.**

**"Come in!" she insisted. "I have your lunch ready!" She ushered us inside.**

**The living room was even weirder than the front lawn. Mirrors and candles filled every available space. I couldn't look anywhere without seeing my own reflection. Above the mantel, a little bronze Hermes flew around the second hand of a ticking clock. I tried to imagine the god of messengers ever falling in love with this old woman,**

**but the idea was too bizarre. Then I noticed the framed picture on the mantel, and I froze. It was exactly like Rachel's sketch-Luke around nine years old, with blond hair and a big smile and two missing teeth. The lack of a scar on his face made him look like a different person-carefree and happy. How could Rachel have known about that picture?**

Now Apollo's eyes glowed like suns, oh the irony. _Rachel…_The god mused, _well dear; it seems you have a cursed_ gift. There were a lot of things Apollo didn't know in some areas, but when it came to his domains the eccentric god tried to stay on top of it all. He knew just how much a burden as well as privilege it was to be an oracle.

**"This way, my dear!" Ms. Castellan steered me toward the back of the house. "Oh, I told them you would come back. I knew it!" She sat us down at the kitchen table. Stacked on the counter were hundreds-I mean hundreds-of Tupperware boxes with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches inside. The ones on the bottom were green and fuzzy, like they'd been there for a long time. The smell reminded me of my sixth grade locker-and that's not a good thing.**

**On top of the oven was a stack of cookie sheets. Each one had a dozen burned cookies on it. In the sink was a mountain of empty plastic Kool-Aid pitchers. A beanbag Medusa sat by the faucet like she was guarding the mess.**

**Ms. Castellan started humming as she got out peanut butter and jelly and started making a new sandwich. Something was burning in the oven. I got the feeling more cookies were on the way.**

**Above the sink, taped all around the window, were dozens of little pictures cut from magazines and newspaper ads-pictures of Hermes from the FTD Flowers logo and Quickie Cleaners, pictures of the caduceus from medical ads.**

Artemis frowned, and for a goddess who knew so little about love it wasn't astonishing. "How could someone be that obsessed with you, you obviously drugged her and these are the after affect-" She was cut off as Hermes was at her throne with a sword at her throat.

"Listen here you may be a hunter but _I_ am the fastest being on earth;" He let that sink in, "If I hear you speak a bad word about May, hades, if your tone is even wrong while talking about her; I will not hesitate to kill you." The words were cold, and cruel, far crueler than she knew the god to be at heart. It made even Ares a bit uncomfortable; and Artemis found herself doubting her former assumption of May Castellan.

Apollo looked torn between protecting his sister and siding with his half-brother, but he decided he should just stay seated. His knuckles were white though from gripping his throne. Slowly Hermes retreated and was back at his throne, resuming his staring.

Hestia continued reading.

**My heart sank. I wanted to get out of that room, but Ms. Castellan kept smiling at me as she made the sandwich, like she was making sure I didn't bolt.**

**Nico coughed. "Urn, Ms. Castellan?"**

**"Mm?"**

**"We need to ask you about your son."**

**"Oh, yes! They told me he would never come back. But I knew better." She patted my cheek affectionately, giving me peanut butter racing stripes.**

**"When did you last see him?" Nico asked.**

**Her eyes lost focus.**

**"He was so young when he left," she said wistfully. "Third grade. That's too young to run away! He said he'd be back for lunch. And I waited. He likes peanut butter sandwiches and cookies and KoolAid. He'll be back for lunch very soon. . . ."**

Hermes looked like he was about to cry.

Apollo just looked hungry.

**Then she looked at me and smiled. "Why, Luke, there you are! You look so handsome. You have your father's eyes."**

**She turned toward the pictures of Hermes above the sink. "Now, there's a good man. Yes, indeed. He comes to visit me, you know." The clock kept ticking in the other room. I wiped the peanut butter off my face and looked at Nico pleadingly, like Can we get out of here now?**

**"Ma'am," Nico said. "What, uh . . . what happened to your eyes?" Her gaze seemed fractured-like she was trying to focus on him through a kaleidoscope. "Why, Luke, you know the story. It was right before you were born, wasn't it? I'd always been special, able to see through the . . . whatever-they-call-it."**

**"The Mist?" I said.**

**"Yes, dear." She nodded encouragingly. "And they offered me an important job. That's how special I was!"**

**I glanced at Nico, but he looked as confused as I was.**

Apollo's face changed to one of certainty, Athena's going to be pissed he figured it out before her, I thought smirking to myself, before he remembered…he'd then lost his smirk pretty quickly. He looked to his brother's avoiding eyes in understanding.

**"What sort of job?" I asked. "What happened?" Ms. Castellan frowned. Her knife hovered over the sandwich bread.**

**"Dear me, it didn't work out, did it? Your father warned me not to try. He said it was too dangerous. But I had to. It was my destiny!**

Hades looked like he was remembering something then his face changed to one of fear, so he flashed armor on, ignoring the confused looks of others as they stared at him. _This will be bad,_ the god thought to himself; _very, very bad…_

**And now . . . I still can't get the images out of my head. They make everything seem so fuzzy. Would you like some cookies?" She pulled a tray out of the oven and dumped a dozen lumps of chocolate chip charcoal on the table.**

**"Luke was so kind," Ms. Castellan murmured. "He left to protect me, you know. He said if he went away, the monsters wouldn't threaten me. But I told him the monsters are no threat! They sit outside on the sidewalk all day, and they never come in." She picked up the little stuffed Medusa from the windowsill. "Do they, Mrs. Medusa? No, no threat at all."**

**She beamed at me. "I'm so glad you came home. I knew you weren't ashamed of me!"**

**I shifted in my seat. I imagined being Luke sitting at this table, eight or nine years old, and just beginning to realize that my mother wasn't all there.**

**"Ms. Castellan," I said.**

**"Mom," she corrected.**

**"Um, yeah. Have you seen Luke since he left home?"**

**"Well, of course!"**

**I didn't know if she was imagining that or not. For all I knew, every time the mailman came to the door he was Luke. But Nico sat forward expectantly.**

**"When?" he asked. "When did Luke visit you last?"**

**"Well, it was . . . Oh goodness . . ." A shadow passed across her face.**

**"The last time, he looked so different. A scar. A terrible scar, and his voice so full of pain . . ."**

**"His eyes," I said. "Were they gold?"**

**"Gold?" She blinked. "No. How silly. Luke has blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes!"**

**So Luke really had been here, and this had happened before last summer-before he'd turned into Kronos.**.

**"Ms. Castellan?" Nico put his hand on the old woman's arm. "This is very important. Did he ask you for anything?"**

**She frowned as if trying to remember. "My-my blessing. Isn't that sweet?" She looked at us uncertainly. "He was going to a river, and he said he needed my blessing. I gave it to him. Of course I did."**

The gears and cogs started turning in Athena's mind and finally recognition appeared in her eyes. _If that'd been this Luke's endgame…_she thought looking at Percy, _then how did the son of Poseidon beat an untouchable Titan?_

**Nico looked at me triumphantly. "Thank you, ma'am. That's all the information we-"Ms. Castellan gasped. She doubled over, and her cookie tray clattered to the floor. Nico and I jumped to our feet.**

**"Ms. Castellan?" I said.**

**"AHHHH," She straightened. I scrambled away and almost fell over the kitchen table, because her eyes-her eyes were glowing green.**

**"My child," she rasped in a much deeper voice. "Must protect him! Hermes, help! Not my child! Not his fate- no!" She grabbed Nico by the shoulders and began to shake him as if to make him understand. "Not his fate!"**

**Nico made a strangled scream**

"HAHAHA…" Thalia laughed, "That _scared _you?!" She asked incredulously before laughing some more.

Nico frowned, and then looked at Percy, "Perce…"

Percy sighed, "On it," He snapped his fingers and Thalia disappeared causing Zeus for a second to jump up in outrage.

"WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER!"

A second later the young daughter of Zeus appeared with a distressed look on her face, "Sorry…" She muttered. Thalia hated the smug look on Nico's face, but the words were needed, it still felt like acid on her tongue…

**and pushed her away. He gripped the hilt of his sword. "Percy, we need to get out-" Suddenly Ms. Castellan collapsed. I lurched forward and caught her before she could hit the edge of the table. I managed to get her into a chair.**

**"Ms. C?" I asked.**

**She muttered something incomprehensible and shook her head.**

**"Goodness. I . . . I dropped the cookies. How silly of me." She blinked, and her eyes were back to normal-or at least, what they had been before. The green glow was gone.**

**"Are you okay?" I asked.**

**"Well, of course, dear. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" I glanced at Nico, who mouthed the word Leave.**

**"Ms. C, you were telling us something," I said. "Something about your son."**

**"Was I?" she said dreamily. "Yes, his blue eyes. We were talking about his blue eyes. Such a handsome boy!"**

**"We have to go," Nico said urgently. "We'll tell Luke . . . uh, we'll tell him you said hello."**

**"But you can't leave!" Ms. Castellan got shakily to her feet, and I backed away. I felt silly being scared of a frail old woman, but the way her voice had changed, the way she'd grabbed Nico . . .**

**"Hermes will be here soon," she promised. "He'll want to see his boy!"**

Tears started falling from his eyes luckily for him only Percy noticed but didn't comment much to his relief. Hermes made a shaking fist as he grasped to control his emotions before making a slow steadying breath.

**"Maybe next time," I said. "Thank you for-" I looked down at the burned cookies scattered on the floor. "Thanks for everything." She tried to stop us, to offer us Kool-Aid, but I had to get out of that house. On the front porch, she grabbed my wrist and I almost jumped out of my skin. "Luke, at least be safe. Promise me you'll be safe."**

**"I will . . . Mom."**

**"**Always so kind" Mumbled Luna.

Why? Why does she keep saying things like this? She cheated on me! She doesn't get me back! _'Or does she?'_ A preppy voice whispered in my mind.

I slammed my mental barriers down and was satisfied with the look of slight pain on her face.

**That made her smile. She released my wrist, and as she closed the front door I could hear her talking to the candles: "You hear that? He will be safe. I told you he would be!"**

**As the door shut, Nico and I ran. The little beanbag animals on the sidewalk seemed to grin at us as we passed.**

**Back at the cliff, Mrs. O'Leary had found a friend.**

**A cozy campfire crackled in a ring of stones. A girl about eight years old was sitting cross-legged next to Mrs. O'Leary, scratching the hellhound's ears.**

**The girl had mousy brown hair and a simple brown dress. She wore a scarf over her head so she looked like a pioneer kid-like the ghost of Little House on the Prairie or something. She poked the fire with a stick, and it seemed to glow more richly red than a normal fire.**

"I saw you at camp." I said to Hestia, She just beamed in response. Normally few stopped to look at her, and who was she to blame? She was home, a constant unchanging certainty. The kind of thing you saw every day, and only realized was special until you lost your way…

**"Hello," she said.**

**My first thought was: monster.**

**When you're a demigod and you find a sweet little girl alone in the woods-that's typically a good time to draw your sword and attack. Plus, the encounter with Ms. Castellan had rattled me pretty bad.**

**But Nico bowed to the little girl. "Hello again, Lady." She studied me with eyes as red as the firelight. I decided it was safest to bow.**

**"Sit, Percy Jackson," she said. "Would you like some dinner?"**

**After staring at moldy peanut butter sandwiches and burned cookies, I didn't have much of an appetite, but the girl waved her hand and a picnic appeared at the edge of the fire. There were plates of roast beef, baked potatoes, buttered carrots, fresh bread, and a whole bunch of other foods I hadn't had in a long time. My stomach started to rumble. It was the kind of home-cooked meal people are supposed to have but never do. The girl made a five-foot-long dog biscuit appear for Mrs. O'Leary, who happily began tearing it to shreds. I sat next to Nico. We picked up our food, and I was about to dig in when I thought better of it.**

**I scraped part of my meal into the flames, the way we do at camp.**.

**"For the gods," I said.**

**The little girl smiled. "Thank you. As tender of the flame, I get a share of every sacrifice, you know."**

**"I recognize you now," I said. "The first time I came to camp, you were sitting by the fire, in the middle of the commons area."**

This time both Percy and Nico smiled at Hestia.

**"You did not stop to talk," the girl recalled sadly. "Alas, most never do. Nico talked to me. He was the first in many years. Everyone rushes about. No time for visiting family."**

Now Hestia beamed at Nico.

**"You're Hestia," I said. "Goddess of the Hearth." She nodded.**

**Okay . . . so she looked eight years old. I didn't ask. I'd learned that gods could look any way they pleased.**

**"My lady," Nico asked, "why aren't you with the other Olympians, fighting Typhon?"**

**"I'm not much for fighting." Her red eyes flickered. I realized they weren't just reflecting the flames. They were filled with flames-but not like Ares's eyes. Hestia's eyes were warm and cozy.**

**"Besides," she said, "someone has to keep the home fires burning while the other gods are away."**

**"So you're guarding Mount Olympus?" I asked.**

**"'Guard' may be too strong a word. But if you ever need a warm place to sit and a home-cooked meal, you are welcome to visit. Now eat."**

**"**It was delicious" I told Hestia sincerely and the warm smile made me think of my mom. I wondered how she was doing…

**My plate was empty before I knew it. Nico scarfed his down just as fast.**

"**"That was great," I said. "Thank you, Hestia." She nodded. "Did you have a good visit with May Castellan?" For a moment I'd almost forgotten the old lady with her bright eyes and her maniacal smile, the way she'd suddenly seemed possessed.**

**"What's wrong with her, exactly?" I asked.**

**"She was born with a gift," Hestia said. "She could see through the Mist."**

**"Like my mother," I said. And I was also thinking, Like Rachel "But the glowing eyes thing-"**

**"Some bear the curse of sight better than others," the goddess said sadly. "For a while, May Castellan had many talents. She attracted the attention of Hermes himself. They had a beautiful baby boy. For a brief time, she was happy. And then she went too far." I remembered what Ms. Castellan had said: They offered me an important job . . . It didn't work out. I wondered what kind of job left you like that.**

**"One minute she was all happy," I said. "And then she was freaking out about her son's fate, like she knew he'd turned into Kronos. What happened to . . . to divide her like that?"**

**The goddess's face darkened. "That is a story I do not like to tell. But May Castellan saw too much. If you are to understand your enemy Luke, you must understand his family."**

**I thought about the sad little pictures of Hermes taped above May Castellan's sink. I wondered if Ms. Castellan had been so crazy when Luke was little. That green-eyed fit could've seriously scared a nineyear-old kid. And if Hermes never visited, if he'd left Luke alone with his mom all those years . ..**

**"No wonder Luke ran away," I said. "I mean, it wasn't right to leave his mom like that, but still-he was just a kid. Hermes shouldn't have abandoned them."**

**Hestia scratched behind Mrs. O'Leary's ears. The hellhound wagged her tail and accidentally knocked over a tree.**

**"It's easy to judge others," Hestia warned. "But will you follow Luke's path? Seek the same powers?"**

**Nico set down his plate. "We have no choice, my lady. It's the only way Percy stands a chance."**

**"Mmm." Hestia opened her hand and the fire roared. Flames shot thirty feet into the air. Heat slapped me in the face. Then the fire died back down to normal.**

**"Not all powers are spectacular." Hestia looked at me. "Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding. Do you believe me?"**

**"Uh-huh," I said. Anything to keep her from messing with her flame powers again.**

**The goddess smiled. "You are a good hero, Percy Jackson. Not too proud. I like that. But you have much to learn. When Dionysus was made a god, I gave up my throne for him. It was the only way to avoid a civil war among the gods."**

**"It unbalanced the Council," I remembered. "Suddenly there were seven guys and five girls."**

**Hestia shrugged. "It was the best solution, not a perfect one. Now I tend the fire. I fade slowly into the background.**

**No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia. Most demigods don't even stop to talk to me. But that is no matter. I keep the peace. I yield when necessary. Can you do this?"**

**"I don't know what you mean."**

**She studied me. "Perhaps not yet. But soon. Will you continue your quest?"**

**"Is that why you're here-to warn me against going?" Hestia shook her head. "I am here because when all else fails, when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war, I am all that's left. Home. Hearth. I am the last Olympian. You must remember me when you face your final decision."**

ALL the Olympians looked at Hestia, Then the book, then back to Hestia. "Aunt H," Apollo said with raised eyebrows and his words tinted on surprise, respect and a bit of jealousy, "You have a book named after you!" After a pause the sun god muttered out a lucky…

Hestia rolled her eyes slightly, "You have a historical space program named after you Apollo…" She reminded him and gave a small smile at the blush he gave.

**I didn't like the way she said final.**

**I looked at Nico, then back at Hestia's warm glowing eyes. "I have to continue, my lady. I have to stop Luke . . . I mean Kronos." Hestia nodded. "Very well. I cannot be of much assistance, beyond what I have already told you. But since you sacrificed to me, I can return you to your own hearth. I will see you again, Percy, on Olympus."**

**Her tone was ominous, as though our next meeting would not be happy.**

**The goddess waved her hand, and everything faded.**

**Suddenly I was home. Nico and I were sitting on the couch in my mom's apartment on the Upper East Side. That was the good news. The bad news was that the rest of the living room was occupied by Mrs. O'Leary.**

**I heard a muffled yell from the bedroom. Paul's voice said, "Who put this wall of fur in the doorway?"**

""OKAY! Now the laughter is getting old!"

"Who said that?" Asked Percy looking at the ceiling.

"No one," The voice responded and wiped all their memories of the voice.

Hestia frowned but decided to continue reading…

**"Percy?" my mom called out. "Are you here? Are you all right?"**

**"I'm here!" I shouted back.**

**"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary tried to turn in a circle to find my mom, knocking all the pictures off the walls. She's only met my mom once before (long story), but she loves her.**

**It took a few minutes, but we finally got things worked out. After destroying most of the furniture in the living room and probably making our neighbors really mad, we got my parents out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where we sat around the kitchen table. Mrs. O'Leary still took up the entire living room, but she'd settled her head in the kitchen doorway so she could see us, which made her happy. My mom tossed her a ten-pound family-size tube of ground beef, which disappeared down her gullet. Paul poured lemonade for the rest of us while I explained about our visit to Connecticut.**

**"So it's true." Paul stared at me like he'd never seen me before. He was wearing his white bathrobe, now covered in hellhound fur, and his salt-and-pepper hair was sticking up in every direction. "All the talk about monsters, and being a demigod . . . it's really true." I nodded. Last fall I'd explained to Paul who I was. My mom had backed me up. But until this moment, I don't think he really believed us.**

**"Sorry about Mrs. O'Leary," I said, "destroying the living room and all."**

**Paul laughed like he was delighted. "Are you kidding? This is awesome! I mean, when I saw the hoof prints on the Prius, I thought maybe. But this!"**

**He patted Mrs. O'Leary's snout. The living room shook- BOOM, BOOM, BOOM-which either meant a SWAT team was breaking down the door or Mrs. O'Leary was wagging her tail.**

**I couldn't help but smile. Paul was a pretty cool guy, even if he was my English teacher as well as my stepdad.**

**"Thanks for not freaking out," I said.**

**"Oh, I'm freaking out," he promised, his eyes wide. "I just think it's awesome!"**

"Mortals are awesome!" said Apollo simply; nobody really could defy that logic.

"Yeah they are," Luna mumbled, "They are full of surprises." She didn't notice she was staring at Percy. Percy frowned but decided to ignore the words.

**"Yeah, well," I said, "you may not be so excited when you hear what's happening."**

**I told Paul and my mom about Typhon, and the gods, and the battle that was sure to come. Then I told them Nico's plan.**

**My mom laced her fingers around her lemonade glass. She was wearing her old blue flannel bathrobe, and her hair was tied back. Recently she'd started writing a novel, like she'd wanted to do for years, and I could tell she'd been working on it late into the night, because the circles under her eyes were darker than usual. Behind her at the kitchen window, silvery moon lace glowed in the flower box. I'd brought the magical plant back from Calypso's island last summer, and it bloomed like crazy under my mother's care. The scent always calmed me down, but it also made me sad because it reminded me of lost friends.**

**My mom took a deep breath, like she was thinking how to tell me no.**

**"Percy, it's dangerous," she said. "Even for you."**

**"Mom, I know. I could die. Nico explained that. But if we don't try-"**

**"We'll all die," Nico said. He hadn't touched his lemonade. "Ms. Jackson, we don't stand a chance against an invasion. And there will be an invasion."**

**"An invasion of New York?" Paul said. "Is that even possible? How could we not see them . . . the monsters?"**

**He said the word like he still couldn't believe this was real.**

**"I don't know," I admitted. "I don't see how Kronos could just march into Manhattan, but the Mist is strong. Typhon is trampling across the country right now, and mortals think he's a storm system."**

**"Ms. Jackson," Nico said, "Percy needs your blessing. The process has to start that way. I wasn't sure until we met Luke's mom, but now I'm positive. This has only been done successfully twice before. Both times, the mother had to give her blessing. She had to be willing to let her son take the risk."**

**"You want me to bless this?" She shook her head. "It's crazy. Percy, please-"**

**"Mom, I can't do it without you."**

**"And if you survive this . . . this process?"**

**"Then I go to war," I said. "Me against Kronos. And only one of us will survive."**

**I didn't tell her the whole prophecy-about the soul reaping and the end of my days. She didn't need to know that I was probably doomed. I could only hope I'd stop Kronos and save the rest of the world before I died.**

**"You're my son," she said miserably. "I can't just . . ." I could tell I'd have to push her harder if I wanted her to agree, but I didn't want to. I remembered poor Ms. Castellan in her kitchen, waiting for her son to come home. And I realized how lucky I was. My mom had always been there for me, always tried to make things normal for me, even with the gods and monsters and stuff. She put up with me going off on adventures, but now I was asking her blessing to do something that would probably get me killed. I locked eyes with Paul, and some kind of understanding passed between us.**

**"Sally." He put his hand over my mother's hands. "I can't claim to know what you and Percy have been going through all these years. But it sounds to me . . . it sounds like Percy is doing something noble. I wish I had that much courage."**

**I got a lump in my throat. I didn't get compliments like that too much.**

**My mom stared at her lemonade. She looked like she was trying not to cry. I thought about what Hestia had said, about how hard it was to yield, and I figured maybe my mom was finding that out.**

**"Percy," she said, "I give you my blessing." I didn't feel any different. No magic glow lit the kitchen or anything. I glanced at Nico.**

**He looked more anxious than ever, but he nodded. "It's time."**

**"Percy," my mom said. "One last thing. If you . . . if you survive this fight with Kronos, send me a sign." She rummaged through her purse and handed me her cell phone.**

**"Mom," I said, "you know demigods and phones-"**

**"I know," she said. "But just in case. If you're not able to call . . . maybe a sign that I could see from anywhere in Manhattan. To let me know you're okay."**

**"Like Theseus," Paul suggested. "He was supposed to raise white sails when he came home to Athens."**

**"Except he forgot," Nico muttered. "And his father jumped off the palace roof in despair. But other than that, it was a great idea."**

**"What about a flag or a flare?" my mom said. "From Olympus-the Empire State Building."**

**"Something blue," I said.**

**We'd had a running joke for years about blue food. It was my favorite color, and my mom went out of her way to humor me. Every year my birthday cake, my Easter basket, my Christmas candy canes always had to be blue.**

Everyone looked at Percy as if he'd just petted a python.

**"Yes," my mom agreed. "I'll watch for a blue signal. And I'll try to avoid jumping off palace roofs."**

**She gave me one last hug. I tried not to feel like I was saying goodbye. I shook hands with Paul. Then Nico and I walked to the kitchen doorway and looked at Mrs. O'Leary.**

**"Sorry, girl," I said. "Shadow travel time again." She whimpered and crossed her paws over her snout.**

**"Where now?" I asked Nico. "Los Angeles?"**

**"No need," he said. "There's a closer entrance to the Underworld."**

"That was the chapter." Spoke Hestia.

"Where's the restroom?" I asked.

All the past gods pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

I walked in shutting and locking the door behind me. I turned on the light and just stared at myself in the mirror.

I pulled out my dagger and stared at its silver blade it was a gift from _her._ I was just about to bring it down on my wrist when I heard the voices outside.

"PERSEUS COLE JACKSON!" Nico and Thalia's pissed off voices yelled.

'_Shit!' I _thought…

**A/N this seems better then before right I added a little bit of angst in this chapter, but every story needs a bit of angst**


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